Although tottering on the edge of total political impotence, Dr. Denzil Douglas continues to be arrogant.
On Tuesday, 22 January, 2013, while his surrogates in Nevis were being pummeled at the polls, Dr. Douglas took to the airwaves and told the country that Mr. Sam Condor and Dr. Timothy Harris must either resign from the Cabinet or be ejected from it.
He said that they must resign or be ejected because they had taken a public stand against the Cabinet.
Mind you, there’s nothing in law, convention, custom or conscience that supports his call for their resignation or ejection. We discussed this in my article of last week entitled ‘SAMtastic and TIMazing’. Remember?
Indeed, if there’s any law breaking with regard to this matter, it’s Dr. Douglas who might be doing that.
Section 10(b) of the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act, Chapter 2.04 of the Laws of the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis states, inter alia, that it is an offence if any person “endeavors to compel any member (of the National Assembly) by force, insult or menace to declare himself or herself in favor of or against any proposition or matter pending or expected to be brought before the National Assembly….”
And the Douglas Party has written to Dr. Harris, calling on him to show cause why he shouldn’t be punished for not towing the Party line.
Freedom of speech is not a favorite of Dr. Douglas’.
Nor is freedom of association. You may recall an effort about two years ago to pressure Messrs. Condor and Harris against associating with one Dwyer Astaphan.
Denzil Douglas likes to punish people.
When he was a teacher he used to make children who were late to school kneel on the gravel outside, under the hot sun.
Now what’s interesting here is not only that he likes to punish people but that he seems to relish doing so cruelly.
And look at what he used to mete out that cruel punishment for: lateness.
This is very odd, because I’ve never been associated with anyone who can match Denzil Douglas when it comes to lateness.
Is it his mentality that you have to do what he wants you to do, but that he can do what he wants to do? I think so.
And it forces me to ask why, as a teacher, he used a heavy hand to instill in the minds of his students the importance of punctuality, yet he would now want to punish two gentlemen who have acted in the best traditions of the Labour Party, and profoundly in accordance with their consciences and with their sworn mandates to serve the best interests of the people of this country without fear, favour or ill-will.
In every facet of life, custom and practice crumble in the face of conscience. Nothing, absolutely nothing, trumps conscience! And these two gentlemen were compelled by conscience and by their sacred oaths of office. They had no choice.
This matter further forces me to ask why anyone in his or her right mind would go along with Denzil Douglas in his bid to pressure Messrs. Condor and Harris out when it is Douglas who needs to resign or be ejected.
Indeed, his time is very, very nigh, and he needs to ponder on which option leaves him with a relatively soft landing.
He needs to understand the significance, and the implications for him (and for the Labour Party which he managed over the past 23-plus years to nearly totally wreck) of the Nevis Island Elections.
He needs to reflect on the role that he played in things reaching as far as they have done in Nevis, and on the fact that, as a result, Joe Parry has been forced to eat political bitter bush and to take his political last supper.
Denzil Douglas needs to understand that it is either such a fate that faces him, or, if he is as smart as he professes to be, a less ignominious exit, courtesy of Messrs. Condor and Harris.
He needs to understand that his fate is more in their hands than is theirs in his. And he needs to know that they and only they can provide him with a relatively soft landing, with him saving some face.
Any other option would be extremely bitter for him.
So he needs to be done with this imperious talk about them resigning or being ejected. And to eat a little humble pie.
He cannot be allowed to duck the Motion of No Confidence any longer.
I know a man who declared himself to be a Labour supporter when Bradshaw was alive. Then when PAM won in 1980, he became a big PAM, and a strong supporter of his ‘friend’ Dr. Kennedy ‘Sam’ Simmonds.
I can vividly recall him saying in 1993 and 1995 that Labour had no chance of defeating PAM, and he said so using the most cruel of language when referring to Denzil Douglas.
Today he is the biggest Labour again, the biggest Douglas supporter.
He is a lizard, is what he is!
He said a few days ago that only the Government can bring the Motion of No Confidence to the National Assembly and it can do so in its own time.
Nonsense.
In addition, with regard to the impending and inevitable change of leader of our Federation, he is saying the very same thing that he had said in 1993 and 1995. “What change? It cannot happen”.
It is because of people like that particular lizard, who is an opportunistic, self-serving blood sucker, that Denzil Douglas must either now resign, and get a relatively soft landing, or be ejected.
It is also because of the many people who have been made fools of, who have been marginalized and thrown under the bus, and who have become victims of Denzil Douglas’ heavy, cruel and callous hand, that he will now have to resign or be ejected.
The pressure is not on Messrs. Condor and Harris. It is on Denzil Douglas.
