A REGIONAL LEADER OF EXCELLENT REPUTE
After attending Private School for his primary education, he received
his Elementary Education at the Basseterre Boy's School.
In 1945, by virtue of his outstanding performance in the entrance
examination for the St. Kitts-Nevis Grammar School, he was awarded a
Scholarship to enter that Institution.
Those were not the days when education was either free or easliy
available, and the St. Kitts-Nevis Grammar School was looked upon
as a sort of preserve for the offspring of the well off. Unless you
were bright enough or lucky enough to win one of the few Scholarships
that got you in to receive your Secondary Education, you were left out.
Kennedy Simmonds won himself that opportunity, and it is said that he
made full use of his Secondary School years.
Indeed, he was one of the youngest pupils ever to be taken in. At the
age of nine years and nine months, he was a good two years below the
average of those accepted.
At school, his conscientiousness and his popularity earned him wide
recognition.
He was a consistent student who came at or near the top of his class
in most if not all of his subjects.
He developed his keen interes in sports, and was noted for a spirit
of competitiveness that was always tempered by an even greater spirit
of sportsmanship.
He took part in extra-curricular activities and laid the foundation
for his future life.
Most important of all, he developed a natural flair for leadership
along with a sense of responsibility and idealism.
Some of the positions he held in the school's Establishment attest
to the promise which he showed in those early years.
He was captain of the school's Under Fourteen Cricket Team. He
captained the school's Senior Cricket Team. He was captain of Blue
House. He was a member of the school's Football Team. He was the
school's Head Prefect. He was President of the school's Literary
and Debating Society.
In 1956 he crowned an already distinguished school career by topping
the results of the Cambridge Higher School Certificate Examination in
the Leeward Islands, and winning the coveted Leeward Island
Scholarship. Interestingly, his subjects in those exams were
Chemistry, French, History, English, a blend of Sciences and Arts
which is again testimony to his all-round academic ability.
On leaving school, he continued to nurture his dramatic talent by
becoming a member of the Basseterre Players Theatre Group.
He worked for a year as Senior Bench Chemist at the Sugar Association
Research Laboratory in 19955 here in St. Kitts. In due course, he
decided to take up medicine as a career, and was duly accepted at the
University of The West Indies(MONA).
In 1955 also, he went into residence at Chancellor Hall and was
elec
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ted Chairman of Block "C" in the Hall. In addition, he was a
member of the Overall Chancelor Hall Committee. He remained active
in Sports, and gained selection on the University Cricket Team. He
was also Secretary of the University's Cricket Club.
Having had a strong religious background, he took time to become
Founding Member and Treasurer of the U.W.I. Methodist Society.
Graduating in 1962, he did his medical internship at the Kingston
Public Hospital, Jamaica in 1963. He returned home to St. Kitts in
1964, a qualified Medical Doctor, and began what was to become a
successful and highly regarded Professional Practice. His first
appointment was in Anguilla in 1964.
In 1965, he became a Founding Member of the People's Action Movement,
(P.A.M), which was formed as a Political Party in Opposition to the
ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party headed by the late Robert Bradshaw.
In 1966 he contested a political seat in the general elections and
lost.
He then took a leave of absence in 1966 to pursue Post-graduate
studies, first in the Bahamas, where he was a Staff Doctor,
Chief Resident in Anesthesiology, and Registrar in Internal Medicine
at the Princess Margaret Hospital, under Consultant Dr. John Lunn, who
was then Chief of the Medical Unit there.
In 1968, he left the Bahamas and went to Pittsburgh, U.S.A., where
he did further post-graduate work in Anesthesiology until 1969 when
he returned to St. Kitts once more to resume his Medical Practice and
Political Career.
In 1970, he was honoured with the award of the Fellowship of the
American College of Anesthesiologists, having successfully completed
the necessary examination requirements.
The following year, in 1971, he again contested a seat in the general
election, and again he lost.
In October 1974 he was engaged in Food Crop cultivation at West Farm
Estate in St. Kitts, on a small plot of land purchased by him, and of
which he was registered owner. he employed up to seven labourers on a
share-crop basis, and he was growing a variety of vegetables, when
along with his colleagues in the P.A.M., he was given a directive by
the Labour Government with impossibly short notice, to plant sugar
cane on his land, purportedly in line with Government's ongoing Sugar
Industry Rescue Operation.
When he demurred, he was arrested on his own land and put into a jail
cell by Police Officers who told him that they were acting under
orders from the Government. His imprisonment did not last for more
than a few hours, after which he got bail.
He was vindicated when himself and other land-owners successfully
challenged the government's right to enter their land in a forcible
manner and convert it to its own use. Their successful legal action
was brushed aside, however, by the immediate declaration of a State Of
Emergency in the one square mile of territory embracing their small
farming plots, which suspended the Constitution there and nullified
the court's decision.
In 1975, he again contested a seat in the general elections and again
he lost.
He was elected President of the P.A.M. in 1976. In the previous eleven
(11) years he had been First Vice President.
In January 1979, following the death of RObert Bradshaw the previous
May, he presented himself as a candidate in the by-election to fill
the Central Basseterre seat made vacant by Bradshaw's demise.
At the count, he was loser by thirteen votes, but there were ninety-nine
rejected ballots, most of which he contended were good votes cast for him.
He petitioned the High Court for a recount, and on that recount was
declared winner by twenty-two votes. His opponent, Anthony Ribeiro,
appealed against this decision and lost, confirming Kennedy Simmonds
as the first person to be elected in a political election in the island
of St. Kitts who was not a member of the Labour Party, which had been
continuously in power from 1952.
It is felt that this Victory of Kennedy Simmonds precipitated the fall
from power of the Lab
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our Party.
Rather than acknowledge his election victory and swear him in as the
first Kittitian Member of the Opposition, the Labour Party decided to
dissolve the House of Assembly and called General Elections ten months
early. In so doing they effectively and legally nullified the courts
decision in is favour, but they equally effectively put their own
seats in jeopardy.
With three elected seats, P.A.M. prevented the Labour Party, with
four seats, from regaining power. A Coalition GOvernment was formed
between P.A.M. and the Nevis Reformation PArty (N.R.P.), with one seat
majority over the Labour Party, which has had to struggle to adjust
to the unaccustomed role of Opposition.
Three years later as Premier Dr. Simmonds performed what many called
"the impossible." He led the tiny country of St. Kitts and Nevis into
full Independence from Great Britain. As the world opened its arms to
receive into her embrace the former British dependency of 45,000
people, the Federation's first Prime Minister - Dr. Kennedy Alphonse
Simmonds, with the watch words, "Prosperity for All", made his
leadership a success story.
In Government, Prime Minister Simmonds has demonstrated a capacity for
moderation, an even and balanced temperament in the face of difficult
responsibilities and even crisis, and a team spirit. He is reasonable,
straight-forward, and remarkably free from malice and spite.
Consultation by him with his colleagues is easygoing but unstinting,
and his approach is uncomplicated and level-headed.
The sincere disposition of Kennedy Simmonds is undoubtedly a major
factor in the greatest achievement of the PAM/NRP Coalition Government,
namely the survival of the new relationship between St. Kitts and Nevis.
From a tricky and explosive experiment, the relationship had matured with
the passing months into a bond cemented by mutual respect and understanding.
Before the formation of this alliance, Nevis was on the brink of
secession from St. Kitts. Only a miracle, it seemed, could avoid a
Nevisian rebellion against the impending joint move to Independence by
the former Labour Government without due regard for the wishes of Nevis.
Prime Minister Simmonds was successful at the polls in 1984, 1989,
and again in 1993. Under his capable guidance the nation flourished.
Truly a leader of excellent repute!.
Outside of politics Dr. Simmonds is a family man. the father of five,
Pauline, Michael, Alphonse, Kenrick and Keris, Dr. Simmonds is
married to the former Mary Matthew. Recreation for the Prime Minister
includes playing his favourite game - tennis, reading and enjoying a
wide variety of sports.
Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds was born on 12th April, 1936 in Basseterre
St. Kitts, the son of Ms. Bronte Clarke and the late Mr. Arthur
Simmonds.
Major Achievements
- Leeward Island Scholar 1954
- Graduated With Degree in Medicine UCWI - 1962
- Fellowship of the American College of Anesthesiologists - 1970
- First UWI Graduate Elected To Head A Caribbean Country - 1980
- Honoured "Super Lion" - Chancellor Hall, University of The West Indies
- Republic Of Columbia - Presented Key TH The City - 1981
- First Prime Minister Of St. Kitts and Nevis - 1983
- Appointed To Her Majesty's Privy Council - 1984
- Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy, University of South Florida - 1989
- Order of The Liberator, Venezuela's Highest Civilian Honour - 1991
- Lions International Presidents Award - 1992
- Eastern Caribbean Central Bank 10th Anniversary Award - 1993
