BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 19, 2009 (Labour Secretariat) - In declining the nomination of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, the People’s Action Movement (PAM) has missed a great opportunity to serve the national interests of the people of the Federation at the level of Parliament.
It was simply bad politics to decline. The reasons tendered have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
When PAM Senator, Hon. Mr. Vincent Byron Jr. stood up at the opening of the National Assembly for the first time in his life and declined the nomination of Deputy Speaker with all his theatrical gesticulations, it was a greatly missed opportunity to show that his party was really concerned about national unity and the healing of political wounds.
Senator Byron himself acknowledged that he was “humbled” to be nominated for the “very esteemed post” in this “august body”. But after such theatrical performance, he anti-climaxed his opening statement by saying that he had to decline the nomination “as a matter of conscience”.
It is this “matter of conscience” that begs so many questions and Senator Byron should explain to the country what he really means by “a matter of conscience”.
Whose conscience was he referring to? Was it his personal conscience? Was it the conscience of the PAM? Was it the conscience of his party’s supporters? Was it the conscience of old PAM stalwarts like Richard Caines, Oliver Spencer, Sydney Morris, Michael Powell, Constance Mitcham and Sir Kennedy Simmonds?
The PAM’s main argument for declining the nomination of Deputy Speaker is that it would reduce their firing power in Parliament because when the Deputy Speaker presides he cannot contribute to the national debate. This is utter rubbish!
There is always consultation between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, so really there is no restriction in making one’s contribution in the National Assembly.
Let us take for example the Hon. Patrice Nisbett of the NRP. When he was Deputy Speaker, he always made his contribution and it didn’t take away from his ability to contribute and rebut in the National Assembly. Not only that, Mr. Nisbett was the lone NRP representative in the National Assembly. The PAM has two elected representatives and a senator in the National Assembly.
It would appear that the PAM was playing their old game again—that of divisive politics. We can all remember how the PAM refused to participate in the process of Electoral Reform and tried to create all kinds of division in the country—yet they lost the elections.
More recently, we can think of how Leader of the PAM, Mr. Lindsay Grant, attacked the appointment of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) representative, Hon. Patrice Nisbett over his appointment as Attorney General in the Federal Government.
Yet, the PAM says that they are a party concerned about national unity but their actions speak louder than their words. They simply oppose for the sake of opposing.
In light of all this, Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas’ words rings true that it was an “attempt by the opposition parties to create confusion and disrupt the formal opening of the National Assembly and the election of a Deputy Speaker”.
Say what you want, Prime Minister Dr. Douglas must be commended for his magnanimous gesture to include the PAM as the nomination for Deputy Speaker. In other jurisdictions this is a rare thing.
By rejecting the nomination of Deputy Speaker, a most prestigious position in the National Assembly, the PAM has shown that they are a party that places their party’s interests above that the national interests.
Senator Byron, in rejecting the Prime Minister’s gesture, you and your party have missed a great opportunity to show that you are serious about the greater good and political unity of the country.
What kind of conscience do you have Senator Byron? Or is it your conscience at all that was speaking or someone else’s? We await your answer.
