BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A document outlining the position and feelings of four non-governmental organisations on the recent issues in the Federal Parliament has been disregarded by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas because it lacks signatures and was not forwarded on letterhead.
The document was disseminated electronically yesterday (Jan. 19) from the email of the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC) and the body of it carries the electronic signature of the group’s Executive Director, Calvin Cable.
And while no signature appeared on the attached document, at the bottom of it is a list of the four organisations: the CIC, the St. Kitts Christian Council, the St. Kitts Evangelical Association and the St. Kitts Small Business Forum.
The document speaks to the manner in which the Constituency Boundaries were realigned and the behaviour of Members of the Federal Parliament.
During his ‘Ask the Prime Minister’ radio programme today (Jan. 20), Dr. Douglas invited the organisations to recirculate the document on letterhead with affixed signatures, if they did indeed sanction it.
“Many of you may have seen a document apparently circulating on the internet purporting to be from various civic organisations in response to last week’s Parliamentary vote. I note that the document has neither letterhead nor signatures and I choose to ignore it as should you. If any of the organisations listed did indeed authorise this however, I invite them to indicate this by circulating an official and signed document, signed statement on letterhead…”
Prime Minister Douglas said he would be accommodative in engaging “them in any discussion on this very important and long-overdue action; first by our Electoral Boundaries Commission and then by our country’s National Assembly”.
He however indicated that there are a couple of other issues on which he would like the groups to pronounce.
“And I would ask as well that these persons at the same time share with us all their reaction to the following: One, the talk of death and killing on air by opposition candidates, funders and supporters and, most importantly, second, media outlets permitting these statements to be aired.
“Until then let us move forward toward elections, recognising the importance of our Federal Parliament, having fixed an aberration which has long and urgently needed to be fixed.”
