BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS the Basseterre High Court closed the second day of hearings yesterday (Aug. 18) in the ongoing constituency boundaries case, another Minister of Government was called to the witness stand to be cross-examined.
Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Sam Condor took the stand yesterday afternoon to assist the Court in clarifying the role he may have played, at the committee level, in the electoral reform process.
Condor, who is the third Member of Parliament to take the stand in the almost two month-long court proceedings, had filed an affidavit on August 7 that outlined his role in the electoral reform process.
Counsel for the opposition party People’s Action Movement (PAM) Constance Mitchum opened her cross-examination by questioning Condor in relation to the function of the Parliamentary Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Boundaries Committee (PCERBC), of which Condor served as Chairperson.
Condor responded, giving an explanation that in 1999 his government sought to address the issue of constitutional, electoral and boundaries reform by establishing a “Parliamentary Select Committee” to do so.
He indicated, however, that following the 2000 General Elections there was no representation by the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) party because it was not successful in winning any parliamentary seats.
“The PSC held meetings throughout St. Kitts-Nevis with various stakeholders and all political parties in it. And it was during these meetings that the PAM refused to participate in the meeting by saying they will not discuss constitutional reform before they could address electoral reform.”
The Deputy Prime Minister explained the route that the recommendations took before reaching the National Parliament, adding that the PCERBC simply “discussed and summarized the report” handed to them by the National Advisory Committee.
Condor was firm in reminding the Court that the various committees were “executing a mandate given to them” and not merely “playing musical chairs”, as Mitchum had suggested.
The final hour in the cross-examination addressed words allegedly spoken by Minister Condor in 2004. Counsel for the claimants (PAM) suggested that Condor’s role as Chairperson of the PCERBC may have been prefaced with bias, as his statements from 2004 seemed to have precisely predicted some of the proposed constituency boundary changes.
According to counsel for PAM, Condor said these words immediately after the 2004 General Elections at a gathering at Masses House: “When we don wid them, they will regret that they ever asked for Electoral Reform. You think a making joke? I gon put New Road on to St. Peters and give Cedric let he kill them; I gon put Boyds on to Trinity, they ain’t gon win that again... And Half Way Tree we gon edge it up too. We gon edge it up. They think they bad?”
Mitchum then sought to show the Court that a number of Condor’s projections regarding constituency boundary changes were confirmed in the CBC report that was completed this year. While Condor admitted that he “probably said something like that”, he made it clear that he did not play any part in the formation of the CBC report.
SKNVibes understands that the others to take the stand today as witnesses of the respondents include Beverly Harris, member of the Boundaries Technical Committee, Anthony Johnson, CBC Chairman, and the Attorney-General, Hon. Dr. Dennis Merchant.
