Denzil Douglas

Denzil Llewellyn Douglas (born 14 January 1953) is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in office from 1995 to 2015. Subsequently he has been Leader of the Opposition. He is the leader of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP).[1]

The Right Honourable Denzil Douglas
2nd Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
In office 6 July 1995 – 18 February 2015
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Clement Arrindell Cuthbert Sebastian Edmund Lawrence
Preceded by	Kennedy Simmonds
Succeeded by	Timothy Harris
Personal details
Born	(1953-01-14) 14 January 1953 Saint Paul Capisterre, British Leeward Islands, (now Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Political party	Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party
Alma mater	University of the West Indies at Cave Hill

Biography

Early life and pre-political career

Born on 14 January 1953[2] in the village of St. Pauls, Douglas studied medicine as a young man. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977 and a Degree in Medicine in 1984 from the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill.[3] In 1986 he established a private medical practice as a family physician and served as President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Medical Association in the late 1980s.[2]

Political life

Douglas was elected M.P. for St. Christopher (No.6) ward (Newton Ground, St. Paul's, Dieppe Bay, Saddlers, and Harris) in the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1989 and appointed Leader of the Opposition. That year he was also elected leader of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party after some internal wrangling for the leadership between himself and the then incumbent political leader Sir Lee L Moore. This internal feud was after Sir Lee L Moore had lost his seat in constituency number 4.

He restructured the party in preparation for its 1995 electoral victory. He was appointed Prime Minister of the Federation in 1995, re-appointed Prime Minister in March 2000 and again in October 2004 after the Labour Party won a third term with seven of the eight seats on St. Kitts. The Labour Party won its fourth consecutive term in office on 25 January 2010, winning six of the eight seats on St Kitts in the eleven-member National Assembly.

Political Controversies

In 2014, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advisory to alert financial institutions that certain foreign individuals were abusing the Citizenship-by-Investment program sponsored by the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) led by the Denzil Douglas Administration to obtain SKN passports for the purpose of engaging in illicit financial activity. As a result of these lax controls, illicit actors, including individuals intending to use the secondary citizenship to evade sanctions, can obtain an SKN passport with relative ease.[4] These events led to the United States revoking his visa.[5]

Detained at Gatwick London Airport

Dr Denzil Douglas – who was Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis for 20 years – was detained at Gatwick Airport by the UK Border Force. The UK Border Officers seized the equivalent of more than £70,000 – in sterling, US dollars and eastern Caribbean dollars – from him on November 16, 2019 when he could not explain why he was attempting to leave the country with the cash.[6]

Appointment to Privy Council

In 2011, Douglas was appointed to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, with the prefix "Right Honourable" added to his name.[7][8][9]

Today, after some 30 years at the helm, Dr Denzil has not put in place a succession plan for new leadership of the SKLP. His political career, since leaving office as Prime Minister in 2015, has been riled with scandal after scandal. The latest scandal being where the current Prime minister Dr Timothy Harris has read into the Hansard in parliament that Dr Denzil Douglas is the holder of a foreign diplomatic passport which is in violation of the St Kitts nevis constitution.[10]

Laptops for high school students

In 2011, Douglas was responsible for the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) program, which provided 2,000 free laptops per year from Taiwan to high school students.[11]

Post-premiership

After losing the 2015 general election he has remained active in politics as leader of the opposition.[12]

References

1. Puddington, Arch; Piano, Aili; Eiss, Camille; Roylance, Tyler; Neubauer, Katrina (2008-08-01). Freedom in the World 2008: The Annual Survey of Political Rights & Civil Liberties. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742563063.
2. East, Roger; Richard Thomas (2003). "Denzil Douglas". Profiles of people in power: the world's government leaders (Google book search) (1st ed.). London: Europa. pp. 439–440. ISBN 978-1-85743-126-1. LCCN 2004297732. OCLC 52634735. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
3. "Denzil Douglas Biography - Began Political Career Early, Experienced Troubled Political Times, Won a Landslide Victory, Won a Third Term". 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
4. "FinCEN Advisory – FIN-2014-A004". US Treasury Department. Retrieved 2018-10-04. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
5. Limited, Jamaica Observer. "Report: US confirms revocation of Denzil Douglas' diplomatic visa". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
6. "Ex PM of St Kitts held at Gatwick Airport". Daily Mail. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
7. "Prime Minister Douglas appointed to Her Majesty's Privy Council". Office of the Prime Minister. Saint Kitts and Nevis. November 18, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
8. JCPC (1995). "Privy Council Members". Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Archived from the original on 2008-12-24. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
9. "Winn FM (St. Kitts Nevis) News: SKN Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas appointed to Privy Council". stkittsweb.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
10. http://www.myvuenews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29623:astaphan-questions-douglas-status&catid=42:rokstories&Itemid=109
11. "Taiwan Begins Laptop Programme for Students in St Kitts and Nevis". Caribbean Journal. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
12. Kelly, Seb (1 November 2017). "Harris has left St Kitts and Nevis 'thick with hopelessness', says Douglas". WIC News. Retrieved 3 November 2017.

Political offices
Preceded by Kennedy Simmonds	Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis 1995–2015	Succeeded by Timothy Harris