BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - EVEN after explanations have been offered, there remain questions about what the emergency was which prompted an emergency sitting of the Federal Parliament which took place today (Sept. 17).
SKNVibes understands that between Monday (Sept. 15) and yesterday, Members of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition were officially informed of the emergency sitting scheduled for today, but, according to reports, there was no indication of what was to have been dealt with during the sitting.
When the house convened – almost two hours after the scheduled time - Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas explained to the House that the emergency meeting was called to lay a resolution before the House for the guaranteeing of the borrowing of $1,000,000 by the Nevis Island Administration for the purposes of recurrent expenditure, specifically to meet their wage bill.
Standing before the Parliament, Prime Minister Douglas said, “The NIA had requested the National Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis to extend an existing overdraft facility, a facility which currently...stands at some 64 million dollars. The NIA have requested an additional $1M. The bank however, had required collateral to cover the additional debt and we had put in place therefore, an emergency meeting for the Parliament today, to seek the approval so that the Federal Government can provide the necessary guarantee for the borrowing of that extra million dollars by the NIA."
However, after Premier and Minister of Finance in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) the Hon. Vance Amory indicated to the Parliament that the sum was no longer necessary, the resolution was withdrawn.
Senator Vincent Byron – who sits in the Opposition Benches - told SKNVibes he still does not understand what the emergency was and why an emergency meeting was called.
“You would recall that some three weeks or so ago…when there was the last sitting of Parliament that there were a number of these resolutions dealing with the guaranteeing and of borrowing of money for recurrent expenditure… of more than $500M…
“And so it bogs the mind why it is that we should have an emergency within 24 hours to do something of this nature when it could do the normal course as it had been with the resolutions some weeks ago. And so I do not quite understand and it really is unnerving when speaking with Premier Amory and Deputy Premier Mark Brantley…that they have made no such request of the central government to guarantee a loan of this nature…
The Senator expressed his point-of-view that if the Prime Minister was of the view that the NIA was in need of an increase in its overdraft facility, he should have at least spoken to Premier Amory before summoning any meeting.
“Why would Denzil Douglas do such a thing? It sounds to me that if he thinks there is the need of an emergency, he would have at least picked up the phone and speak to Premier Amory before he sent out a notice…How did he get to know that there was a need for this loan? How did he get to confirm that it was needed urgently..? How did he get to the point of summoning an emergency meeting of the Parliament without even talking to Premier Amory? It is mind-boggling.”
SKNVibes spoke with Premier Amory who said he made no formal request to the Federal Government for any such resolution to be passed and he described the meeting as unnecessary.
“I do not see that there was any need for an emergency meeting to bring any resolution and that is my simple approach to the matter…There was no formal request to the Federal Government by myself for any resolution to be passed…All I can say is it was not necessary and that is as much as I can say."
