BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE two successful candidates for the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM) party have scoffed at a recent election petition brought against them by the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), calling the court action “frivolous and vexatious”.
The election of PAM representatives Shawn Richards and Eugene Hamilton (Constituencies Five and Eight, respectively) was challenged by their SKNLP counterparts Dr. Norgen Wilson and Cedric Liburd on the grounds that both candidates were not qualified to be elected as of Nomination Day (Jan. 15).
The suit, which was served on the PAM reps last Friday (Feb. 5), called for their elections to office to be made null and void on the grounds of having dual citizenship upon being nominated.
This issue has been in the public for about a year now and the eligibility of both Richards and his party leader Lindsay Grant were brought into question.
“I have said to the nation before that I have renounced my US citizenship and I stand behind those words. I’ve been anxiously awaiting these papers because I’ve heard that they intended to challenge. He [Dr. Wilson] has lost in election and once more he will lose in the court,” Richards told SKNVibes in a February 9 interview.
Although efforts were made by Grant to convince the media of his renunciation by presenting the original certificate, Richards said he is not willing, at this point, to present his certificate to prove that he has actually renounced his US citizenship. Rather, he has noted his confidence in a short but successful court trial.
“I am not, at this point, putting anything out there in the public so I do hope that the failed Labour candidate is prepared to pay costs for this frivolous matter that he is bringing before the court. I don’t expect to be part of any long court case because, as I said, I have all my documents to prove otherwise. So, I expect that within less than a day that this matter will be over with,” Richards added.
Liburd’s challenge to Hamilton’s election may have come as a surprise to many, as the PAM candidate was never the subject of scrutiny as it relates to dual citizenship. It is in this light that Hamilton perceives Liburd’s court challenge to be “merely a frivolous and vexatious claim”.
“According to their affidavits, they claim that I have travelled using three separate documents, two of which were issued by the US Government. For me to have a US passport, which requires me to swear an oath to a foreign state, I would have to live and work and contribute to the US tax regime.
“But I have never lived in the US or paid taxes there and that’s why I can only say that this claim is harassment and people should be prosecuted for me to go and defend what is really a silly petition. It’s a waste of my time!” Hamilton responded when asked about the election petition.
Hamilton claims that the court challenge is to add to the SKNLP’s mission to “harass” him. He informed that a series of smear tactics and violent attacks was unable to kill his campaign and so Liburd is resorting to “this type of harassment”.
“Having all that done and not being able to slow down my campaign, the only thing that they could do now is just harassment. For Cedric Liburd to swear an affidavit in this matter, he must expect me to leave no stone unturned in pursuing him all the way because the penalties for perjury are severe,” Hamilton warned.
