Basseterre, St.Kitts (TUCOM) -- Team Unity is considering testing in Court the validity of Bills passed in the Parliament by the minority Douglas regime without the requisite 3 fifths (3/5) support of Members of Parliament participating as per section 41 (2) of the Constitution. Section 41(2) of the Constitutions says “Except in the case of a question of no confidence in the Government, a question shall not be regarded as having been validly determined by a vote in the National Assembly on occasions when the numbers of members voting are recorded unless not less than three-fifths of all the members, or such greater number of members as Parliament may prescribe, take part in the voting.”
The Douglas regime did not get the three fifth (3/5) support on its Parliament measures last Monday. In a strategic decision which caught the government off guard, Team Unity members called for division, that is for the votes to be recorded individually as Aye, No, Abstention and Non- Participating. This precedence now gives Team Unity the evidential basis to consider legal options.
In a landmark judgment on February 12, 2014, High Court Judge Justice Darshan Ramdhani said the Douglas regime’s right to govern was invalidated as it had lost the support of the majority of Members of Parliament. Justice Ramdhani ruled that in a constitutional democracy like St. Kitts and Nevis, when the Prime Minister loses the support of the majority he ought to resign or call fresh elections with urgency.
The Denzil Douglas administration is fearful of facing a vote on the Motion of No Confidence in Parliament as it will lose that vote. A majority of elected members who alone can vote on such a motion have declared their intention to vote for the Motion of No Confidence and replace Douglas as Prime Minister. The last available poll data from Don Anderson indicated that the Douglas Party would lose the next General Elections to Team Unity. Team Unity has outlined a number of popular proposals for bringing relief to the people and growing the economy. Among such measures are VAT removal on food, medicine and funeral expenses,reduction in NHC mortgage loans, student loans and special support for farmers and fishers.
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