BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A group of non-governmental organisations (NGO) are crying foul about the move made by the Government to rush through the constituency boundary changes during an emergency sitting of Parliament on January 16.
In a release dated January 18, 2015, the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the St. Kitts Christian Council, the St. Kitts Evangelical Association and the St. Kitts Small Business Forum have all condemned the activities surrounding the sitting and described it as an insult.
“The Civil Society organizations listed below listened with utter disgust to the abuse of the National Assembly perpetrated in its emergency sitting on the afternoon and evening of Friday 16th January 2015. The refusal of the Speaker to allow members on the Opposition benches who wished to do so to speak on the motion to change the constituency boundaries was a biased attack on the democratic process and the Rule of Law and a deliberate insult to the inhabitants of the country represented by those members.”
The quartet of organisations also highlighted the short notice given to some members of the parliament, disregarding of rights of members of the National Assembly the speediness in which the proclamation was signed by the Governor General and the immediate dissolution of the National Assembly, “suggest an orchestrated plan to frustrate the rights of the Opposition members to exercise their constitutional right to contest the changes of the boundaries proposed by the Government.”
The release also indicated the difference in haste to hear the boundaries matter as opposed to the Motion of No Confidence.
“We cannot but note the haste to change the boundaries in a few hours is so different from the two years that the Motion of No Confidence in the Government has been blocked in the National Assembly.”
The Civil Society organisations also encouraged Members of the National Assembly to act responsibly and in keeping with the designation of Honourable.
“Elections should not be treated like a game to be won in anyway and at all cost. The country does not belong to any one man or party. The Constitution and its norms and conventions must be respected if our country is to progress and avoid dictatorship.
“The Civil Society organisations demand and expect that the process to elections following the dissolution of the National Assembly will proceed with full respect for the Rule of Law and the Constitution, with fairness in the electoral process and with dignity and decorum.”
