Deputy Speaker will be opposition member, says PM Douglas

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DESPITE claims to the contrary, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas has stressed that a Deputy Speaker, coming from the opposition benches, will be elected when Parliament reconvenes on March 10.

“I expect a certain level of maturity in the conduct of the affairs in our Parliament,” he said yesterday (Mar. 2) on his “Ask the PM” radio show. “Although there has been quite a bit of outside chatter, I believe when the time comes the Parliament will not only elect a Speaker, it will be able to elect his Deputy.”

Section 32 (3) of the Constitution states that when the National Assembly first meets after any general election and before it proceeds to the despatch of any other business except the election of the Speaker, the assembly shall elect one of its members who is not in the Cabinet or a Parliamentary Secretary to be Deputy Speaker.

As the last person to hold the Speaker’s position, Curtis Martin is widely expected to be returned in that role when Parliament resumes.

The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party won six of the 11 seats in the January 25 Federal Elections and formed a nine-man Cabinet consisting of two Labour Senators and Nevis Reformation Party representative Hon. Patrice Nisbett as Attorney-General.
The People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) each won two seats.

Officials from both PAM and CCM have gone on record as saying that their party’s parliamentarians would not accept the Deputy Speaker’s position. However, as the government side is comprised entirely of Cabinet members, the Deputy Speaker must come from the opposition unless one of the government ministers is removed from Cabinet.

That is a route PM Douglas is unlikely to take, as he noted that a similar situation occurred after the 2004 Federal Elections when Nisbett, then an opposition member, accepted the role.

“This is not anything new and that is why I said that I hope people are able to look at the work of the Parliament that has to do with some measure of maturity and stop playing childish politics and get on with the business of conducting the affairs of the country from Parliament.

“There are some who think that Parliament is a game to go to the lawmaking body on March 10 and not have a Deputy Speaker. It is a matter for all of us to become engaged in the election of a Speaker and a Deputy because we have been elected and/or appointed to do so,” he reasoned.

When contacted by SKNVibes, PAM Leader Lindsay Grant reiterated that the Deputy Speaker’s position was never in his party’s plans. He said the predicament showed just how inexperienced Douglas was because he could have avoided “backing himself into a corner”.

“Accepting Deputy Speaker would create problems because if there is a major bill being discussed and the Speaker is absent, our representative would not be able to participate in a meaningful way to the discussion. 

“If there is a deadlock on March 10 and no one has stepped up, I can tell you that we certainly won’t. The PM has other options at his disposal, so we don’t have to accommodate him.”

Attempts to contact CCM Leader Vance Amory concerning the matter were unsuccessful.