BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE devolution of authority to the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is one of the first orders of business the Federation’s recently-appointed Attorney-General, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett, is aiming at tackling.
“As a Parliamentarian, there are certain matters that I would want to address specifically in relation to the island of Nevis, and that matter has to do with the issue of the devolution of authority or rather, giving more autonomy to the Nevis Island Legislature and by extension the Nevis Island Administration.
“And so that is one of the things that is very high on my agenda in order to add certain additional subject areas to the list of specified matters in the Constitution, which the Nevis Island Legislature has exclusive legislative competence over,” Nisbett said in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes.
The AG explained that in his previous capacity as Member of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Federal Parliament, he was instrumental in beginning this process through the drafting of the necessary documents and believes that in his new capacity he could forward the matter.
“At that particular point in time, I did draft the requisite white paper and in my capacity. Now as the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, I believe I will be able to push the matter and ensure that we are able to achieve our desired objectives in relation to the issue of the devolution of authority for the people of Nevis.”
AG Nisbett said the process began under the last administration and he expects that it would be completed “during the first half of this year”.
In his capacity as the government’s principal, Nisbett indicated that there are a number of house-keeping matters which need to be addressed if the Attorney-General’s Office is to function efficiently and effectively. He said he is working to attend to these issues.
“In terms of the first order of business, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Justice have some issues in relation to manpower. I would want, as one of the first things to do, is to bring the staffing requirements up to the level that is required in order for us to deliver the service that is expected of us in a timely and efficient manner.
“We would want to recruit the necessary personnel so that we can be in a position to carry out the varied functions that are performed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Justice. Presently, we have a number of vacancies at the Attorney-General’s Chambers and we would want, in a very timely fashion, in a speedy fashion, to fill those vacancies.”
