Brantley suggests Parry should think before speaking
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS the verbal battle between the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) heats up in their election campaign, NRP’s Leader Joseph Parry is accusing the CCM of seeking to hijack the electoral process.
While speaking at a public meeting at Cherry Gardens, Premier Parry explained that, according to his understanding, the CCM and its Leader Vance Amory had made an application to the court for “an injunction to stop the election”.
“While I respect the constitutional right of access to the court, such access must come with responsibilities. Brantley, Amory and the CCM, after insulting the integrity of the High Court with their contemptuous attack on Justice Redhead, are now in a desperate attempt to escape from a CCM political hiding on Monday, trying to drag the court into the political arena.
“It was the great former Chief Justice Sir Dennis Byron who in a Court of Appeal decision from Antigua issued a stern warning to desperate politicians. He said politicians must not play political games with the court; they must not drag the court into the political arena. But we are not dropping our guard. We have copies of the applications.”
Parry expressed that the NRP would not allow the election process to be “hijacked by Pirates of the Caribbean disguised in the colours of CCM who want by all means to avoid defeat on Monday”.
He said the NRP’s legal team - which comprises Attorneys Dr. Henry Browne, Anthony Astaphan and Sylvester Anthony - is reviewing the CCM’s injunction papers and, if needs be, “we will seek to intervene in the applications to ensure that the integrity of the elections and election process are fully and absolutely protected…Be not afraid, we will prevail”!
SKNVibes contacted Deputy Leader of the CCM, Attorney Mark Brantley for a comment on Parry’s remarks.
He corrected Parry’s “injunction” comments, noting that it is an application forwarded to the court “to have the names that were removed from the electoral list to be put back on the list for the poll on Monday”.
These names, this publication understands, amount to some 200.
In addressing Parry’s statement of the similarity between the CCM and Pirates of the Caribbean, Brantley suggested that the Premier should develop the habit of thinking before he speaks.
“We in the CCM have learnt to ignore most of what Premier Parry says. Premier Parry needs to engage his mind before he engages his mouth, and we ought to be ashamed that he is seeking to disenfranchise hundreds of Nevisians. That is not the way that he ought to go about elections in this country. That is not the way that Premier Parry and the NRP should seek to remain in office.
“If they had performed the way they say they have performed, then why it is they are embarking on this path of rampant corruption in the electoral process? Other than that, I have no statement to the wild statements of Premier Parry. We will go to the court and we will hear what the court has to say about the matter.”
Brantley said expectation is high that the court would hear the CCM’s application sometime today.
