BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – “IF the Prime Minister is saying the election was a referendum on boundary changes, then he has no public mandate to implement Value-Added Tax since that issue was not publicised during the campaign.”

So said People’s Action Movement (PAM) Leader Lindsay Grant in response to Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas’ Labour Day promise that the electoral boundaries would change “within short order”.

“We want an electoral reform process that gives each political party a fair chance to govern the country after an election,” Grant explained. “But obviously, the reform process conducted by the government prior to the last election was flawed.”

Attempts by Douglas’ St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party to adjust the boundaries in 2009 resulted in a lengthy court battle that ended on October 19 when Justice Errol Thomas ruled that the proclamation changing the boundaries was “null and void”.

The Constitutional Boundaries Committee resumed meeting after Thomas’s judgement in another effort to fulfil the government’s wishes, but was frustrated by a December injunction against its work.

Speaking at the end of the annual Labour Day March (May 3), PM Douglas said the government wanted to complete the electoral reform process “without delay” and promised it would once again attempt to change the boundaries.

“Our efforts were thwarted by injunction after injunction after injunction until the people of this country were tired of a party attempting desperately to stake a claim it was worthy of your confidence and support. You rejected them.

“We saw the election as a referendum on this issue. So I now give you the assurance that within short order, this matter will be dealt with effectively once and for all and the boundaries shall change in St. Kitts-Nevis,” Douglas added.

Grant admitted that boundary changes may be necessary after 25 years of the existing structure, but was adamant that an enumeration process should be conducted beforehand.
The PAM leader told SKNVibes that the last election was clouded by calls about its integrity, and said his party would do its utmost to ensure that boundary changes were equitable.

“This practice of people registering outside constituencies they don’t live in is a burning issue. Until the government puts a residency clause into the legislation, that issue will continue to plague the country.

 “Even now, my party has an election petition pending against one of the seats that was won by the Labour Party. That in itself says a lot,” he insisted.

Grant weighed in on other aspects of the Prime Minister’s Labour Day speech, namely his strategies for tax reform and debt management.

The party leader said he favoured Douglas’ idea of reducing the corporation tax, but noted that measures for reducing the national debt, which stood at EC$2.54 B in a 2008 estimate, should have been implemented “15 years ago”.