BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Unity Movement seems to have lost its momentum with an obvious lull in their protest action that began in February 2014.
The protests began on Friday, February 14, shortly after His Lordship Justice Darshan Ramdhani, at the Basseterre High Court, handed down a ruling in the Motion of No Confidence matter, where he suggested that the Motion of No Confidence should be tabled.
Since then, a number of protests have been staged on the outside of the St. Kitts-Nevis- Anguilla National Bank - the place of employment of the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Hon. Curtis Martin.
The protests were staged during the working days (Monday to Friday) and, on some occasions, a one or two-day period would elapse before the next one is staged.
The last one however, took place on Monday (Mar. 10) and resulted in the protesters trailing the Speaker through the streets of Basseterre while he was running a couple of midday errands.
A number of exchanges took place between the Speaker and the protesters, including him insisting that he not be touched while being trailed.
Three days after the incident, the Press and Public Relations Officer of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force issued a communiqué after receiving “reports of persons following people about and harassing them and disturbing their peaceful livelihood, at their work place, home or at public places”.
The release reminded that “this activity is an offence...”
Unity Leaders and some of its members had indicated to this publication that the protest action would continue until the Speaker tables the Motion of No Confidence. However, since the March 10 occurrence, the placard-bearing protesters have been noticeably absent from the outskirts of the National Bank.
On Friday (Mar. 21), SKNVibes contacted Unity Leader the Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris with the hope of learning of the reason for the lull. He indicated that he was preparing to attend the funeral of a relative and that he should be contacted the following day.
Since then, numerous attempts were made to contact Dr. Harris via cell phone but none has been successful.
This publication also contacted Jonel Powell - a regular at the protests and a member of Team Unity - but he indicated that he was about to enter a meeting and he should be contacted in an hour’s time. Subsequent attempts to contact him via cell phone were also unsuccessful.
Some individuals are of the view that the protest action is likely to continue but, whether or not, it can only be determined in the future.
The Motion of No Confidence was filed by Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition on December 11, 2012 and, to date, it has not been laid before the National Assembly for debate.
