BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AMIDST suggestions and calls for the Motion of No Confidence filed by the Opposition against the Government to be handled with priority, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas has informed that it would have to take a back seat to the pending 2013 Budget presentation.
The Rt. Hon. PM made this pronouncement, following his address as guest speaker, to members of the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC) at their Christmas Luncheon held at the Ocean Terrace Inn on Tuesday (Dec. 18).
In response to a question by one of the attendees concerning the Motion, Dr. Douglas explained that while the issue is “very, very important in our parliamentary democracy system” the Budget would be presented before it is dealt with.
“There is a procedure that has to be followed here. The government has sought legal advice at the highest level as to how to proceed in terms of when to proceed to deal with this matter. As far as I am concerned, the Budget was a matter that had been set down for the Parliament before the Motion of No Confidence which only came in last week actually.
“The Motion of No Confidence is very, very important in our parliamentary democracy system. So it has to be heard and it should be heard expeditiously, but there are other matters that have been set down of equal importance, one of which was the Budget. And so we would expect that the Budget would be heard and then we probably would hear the Motion of No Confidence in the government.
“Because, two weeks ago when we thought there was a motion, there was no motion, none whatsoever, and so if there is a budget now to be heard, it will have to wait in line with what is the calendar of the house that is before the Speaker of the House.”
According to Dr. Douglas, Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the House of Parliament has – to date – made three attempts to file a Motion of No Confidence.
“The Motion of No Confidence, as I said, three attempts have been made to have a Motion of No Confidence presented to our Parliament. The first one was a Motion of No Confidence in the Prime Minister. There is nothing called that in the constitution. And then they tried again…It was a non-motion but it went throughout the entire world because none of the media, it would appear, even examined what was being brought forward to see if it had any legal or parliamentary basis. It had none whatsoever.
“But the whole world was being told that there is a Motion of No Confidence in the government which was totally untrue. There was nothing presented to the Parliament properly. But investors, I’m sure, far away, who could have had an interest in the country, heard this matter and enquires were being made. Eventually, a second attempt was being made and even the second attempt has failed. And so there was a third attempt, but you have not even heard that there was a third attempt because you have been told that there was a first attempt, and it has gone through and we don’t know what to do.”
Prime Minister Douglas echoed sentiments he expressed weeks ago that the Motion of No Confidence is evidence that persons are “bent on damaging the image of the country, damaging the image of the Prime Minister. No one is thinking of the consequences of sending an inaccurate statement around the world and what they can do to the investment climate in this country”.
Dr. Douglas’ pronouncements concerning which of the matters would be addressed first – however – does very little or nothing in providing an indication of the timeframe during which the issues are likely to be disposed of.
