BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, February 20th 2014 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is of the firm view that the political situation in the twin-island Federation is stable.
“So very stable that one continues to describe the situation as democracy at work. We have had for some time as you know, the matter of two members of Parliament who were former members of the Labour Party attempting to bring the life of the government to an end prematurely,” said Prime Minister Douglas in response to a question from the media at a Cabinet Press Conference on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Douglas pointing out that the Federation has made significant strides in the past few months suggested that phenomenal growth and economic activity have continued in the country.
“So much so, that as you would have read from the latest IMF report, that all of our indices have been exceptionally positive during this period where we were working out our democratic challenges by ourselves in a very stable political climate,” said Dr. Douglas.
“We know the growth has increased. Crime has come down. The investment has increased. The debt has come down. Public servants salaries have increased and to a large extent, a large number of our people who were just simply sitting idle at home, have now been given the opportunity to acquire a number of skills and are now preparing themselves for the day when the economy would be bouncing higher and higher to employ everyone,” said the St. Kitts and Nevis leader.
Dr. Douglas noted that in January 2010, following general elections, his St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party polled some 60% of the votes on St. Kitts in free and open elections which re-elected his Party for a fourth consecutive term.
“And because of an internal issue within the Labour Party, with one member demanding to have the leadership of the party in undemocratic way, eventually it spilled over to our Parliament and those two members joined forces with the established opposition in attempting, through a Motion of No Confidence, to bring the life of the government to a premature end,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
“We took the position then, that the matter was so important and could lead to a possible election that we all agreed, both sides that we would wish to have the Federal Budget for 2013 determined and that happened. Lo and behold the very same week when the Budget was supposed to be brought to the Parliament and when they were claiming that they had a majority on the Opposition side, the Budget was successfully passed,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who noted that the Opposition “turned to the Law Court of the land to get a determination on having the Motion set on the Order Paper by the Speaker.”
The judgement came on the Motion of No Confidence just last week.
“For us the judgement speaks in the following way, that the matter of the Motion of No Confidence brought to the court by the Opposition continues because the judge has said that in his own understanding and appreciation of the law, the court has the right to look into a situation where he thinks that the Parliamentarians rights would have been infringed. In fact, he emphasized that it was an implied right and it is that emphasis on it being an implied right, that keeps the door wide open for that first instance judgement to be tested at the higher court,” said Dr. Douglas.
The Prime Minister also noted that the Judge also indicated that the enjoining of the Members of the Cabinet with the Speaker on this particular matter was a wrong approach unsubstantiated by the evidence provided in the court.
“And as a result of that, he awarded cost against the members of the Opposition who had enjoined us as members of the cabinet,” said Dr. Douglas.
“I said that there is a stable political climate. The country continues to be governed in a very democratic way,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who was flanked by his cabinet of ministers.
In the National Assembly there are 8 parliamentarians on the Government side and 7 on the Opposition benches.
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