BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SUGGESTIONS made by the ruling Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) that the opposition Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) failed to “show up for work at the Nevis Island Assembly” have been countered by the CCM, which has indicated that that statement is not altogether accurate.
A press release issued by the Premier’s Press Secretary explains that on Monday (Oct. 31), the Nevis Island Assembly met for the third time since the NRP was elected to power on July 11, 2011.
It indicates that the absence of CCM’s Leader the Hon. Vance Amory from that session marked the third such absence since elections were held.
Brantley, in an interview with this publication, explained that the two elected CCM members boycotted the first sitting of the Assembly as a continued protest against what they describe as an “illegitimate administration” which “forced themselves on the people of Nevis”.
He further explained, however, that Jeffers attended the second sitting, during which he was sworn in, but shortly thereafter left the proceedings.
The Press Secretary’s release explains that during the Assembly’s recent sitting, the government representatives “expressed outrage at the continued absence, no-show, non-participation, and failure by the leader of the Opposition party who has refused to show up and be sworn in”.
While Brantley indicated that it is true that Amory did not attend any of the three sittings, he explained that on two occasions Amory was unavailable because he was not in the Federation.
He also explained that being cognisant of the fact that he would have been absent from the last two sittings, Amory submitted correspondence to the legislative body conveying his apologies.
“In relation to the attendance in the Nevis Island Assembly, the suggestion that the CCM has stayed away from three sittings of the Assembly is not quite correct. The first sitting of the assembly, the CCM indicated it would boycott that sitting as a continued show of its non-acceptance of the legitimacy of this administration and its abhorrence at what happened in the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters on July 11, 2011. As a result, we did not attend the first sitting.
“My information is that at that second sitting, the Honourable Vance Amory was away. He was abroad in the United Kingdom, and that he sent a letter of apology explaining his absence to the Speaker of the National Assembly. That was the position. We gather that there was a third sitting of the Assembly last Monday, and, again, the Honourable Vance Amory had travelled. And from what I understood, he gave, again, a letter indicating his absence from the island.
“The law, to my mind, is very clear that the issue of absences from the Assembly is only relevant when those absences have not been excused by the Speaker of the House.”
As quoted in the press release, a government’s representative in the Assembly, Carlisle Powell, said, “I am not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination but it is just my thinking that if you have not been sworn in, you cannot be excused from a position that you don’t have.”
Brantley’s reaction to Powell’s statement suggested that he is not in the habit of making sense.
“You only have to examine that to see that it doesn’t make any sense, because if he doesn’t have a position before he has been sworn in, then he can’t miss a sitting either. So, either way, it is a non-issue. If they are saying he cannot be excused because he has not been sworn in, then, equally, he cannot be said to have missed a sitting knowing he has not been sworn in. So, Mr. Powell, as usually, does not make sense.”
The CCM continues to refuse to recognise the NRP administration as a legitimately-elected government and has followed through with its plans to challenge the results of the July 11 elections, particularly those of St. John’s Constituency.
“We have accordingly issued a petition challenging the results of that election, specifically in the St. Johns Constituency where, as you know, some 203 voters were summarily removed from the Voters’ List. That’s a matter that is before the court. The CCM and our party leader, the Honourable Vance Amory, have been adamant that they would not recognise or do anything to legitimise this NRP administration which we view as wholly illegitimate.”
Brantley informed that the election petition case is scheduled to begin by late November.
