BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CONTENTION has arisen on the validity of the injunction filed yesterday (Jan. 16) by Members on the Opposition Benches to restrain the Labour Party Government from proclaiming the Constituency Boundaries Commission’s Report that was laid before and approved by the House of Assembly.
Late yesterday afternoon, an emergency Parliamentary sitting was convened for the tabling of a Report submitted by the Constituency Boundaries Commission to make changes to the boundaries in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The resolution was approved to the dissatisfaction of the Opposition Members and Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas announced from the steps of Government Headquarters that the draft proclamation, with accompanying resolution, was submitted to the Governor-General and a proclamation in the terms of the recommended draft was gazetted.
The Prime Minister also announced what he had requested of the Governor-General.
“I hereby now announce that I have advised His Excellency the Governor-General to dissolve the Parliament, the National Assembly, effective today 16th January 2015 to give effect to the proclamation, which has realigned the constituency boundaries of St. Christopher and Nevis. The date of the General Election in St. Christopher and Nevis shall therefore be announced at a later date.”
Later that evening, in an interview with WINN FM’s Andre Huie, the Opposition’s legal representative, Senior Counsel Chris Hamel-Smith, said that the judge at the Basseterre High Court had granted an injunction restraining the Government from proclaiming the Constituency Boundaries Commission’s Report that was laid before and approved by the House of Assembly.
However, following the announcement of the injunction at a Team Unity’s meeting in Fort Street and SKNVibes’ publication of an article headlined “Judge grants injunction to stop Proclamation...but”, many people within and without the Federation had contacted this media house claiming that they were confused over the situation and did not quite understand what transpired in relation to the injunction.
Therefore, in an effort to appease readership and those who voiced their concerns, SKNVibes today completed an investigation on the matter, which included speaking to a number of individuals in Team Unity who either could not or did not want to disclose when the Court Order was served.
The investigation concluded that while the Opposition’s legal representative had claimed that the injunction was granted “whilst the emergency sitting of Parliament was going on”, he neither mentioned if the Court Order was served to the relevant parties nor the time at which they were served.
Also, the investigation revealed that it was approximately 6:30 p.m. when Prime Minister Douglas had made the announcement of the draft proclamation to be signed by the Governor-General and request for his dissolution of Parliament.
According to informed sources, application for the injunction began at or about 7:00 p.m. and was granted at 8:00 p.m. or shortly thereafter.
This revelation has certainly contradicted what is written in the Federation’s Constitution pertaining to a proclamation and its validity.
According to Section 50 of the Review of constituency boundaries, sub-section six (6) states: “If any draft proclamation laid before the National Assembly under subsection (3) or (5) is approved by a resolution of the Assembly, the Prime Minister shall submit it to the Governor-General who shall make a proclamation in terms of the draft; and that proclamation shall come into force upon the next dissolution of Parliament after it is made.”
The following sub-section, seven (7), states: “The question of the validity of any proclamation by the Governor-General purporting to be made under subsection (6) and reciting that a draft thereof has been approved by resolution of the National Assembly shall not be enquired into in any court of law except upon the ground that the proclamation does not give effect to rule 1 in schedule 2.”
For clarity on the above stated sub-sections, SKNVibes has decided to publish the other five sub-sections.
They are:
(1) The Constituency Boundaries Commission (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Commission) shall, in accordance with the provisions of this section, review the number and boundaries of the constituencies into which Saint Christopher and Nevis is divided and submit to the Governor-General reports either-
a) showing the constituencies into which it recommends that Saint Christopher and Nevis should be divided in order to give effect to the rules set out in schedule 2; or
b) stating that, in its opinion, no alteration is required to the existing number or boundaries of constituencies in order to give effect to those rules.
(2) Reports under subsection (1) shall be submitted by the Commission at intervals of not less than two nor more than five years.
(3) As soon as may be after the Commission has submitted a report under subsection (1)(a), the Prime Minister shall lay before the National Assembly for its approval the draft of a proclamation by the Governor-General for giving effect, whether with or without modifications, to the recommendations contained in the report, and that draft proclamation may make provisions for any matters that appear to the Prime Minister to be incidental to or consequential upon the other provisions of the draft.
(4) Where any draft proclamation laid before the National Assembly gives effect to any recommendations of the Commission with modifications, the Prime Minister shall lay before the Assembly together with the draft a statement of the reason for the modifications.
(5) If the motion for the approval of any draft proclamation laid before the National Assembly under subsection (3) is rejected by the Assembly, or is withdrawn by leave of the Assembly, the Prime Minister shall amend the draft and lay the amended draft before the Assembly.
And according to the Government’s legal representative, Attorney-at-Law Sylvester Anthony, who last evening spoke on Freedom Radio, whatever orders served by the Court would be useless if they were not served before the proclamation of the boundary changes.
