Brantley says "Enough is enough"
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” says Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Mark Brantley who, along with the four other members on the Opposition Benches, boycotted today’s (Dec. 13) Budget Address.
The Federal Parliament convened sometime after 10:00 this morning with all five opposition members absent and, as suggested in a release issued Press Secretary of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) Mervin Hanley, this action hinges on the St. Kitts-Nevis government’s obvious intention of preventing the passage of the Integrity in Public Life Bill 2011 into law.
“Despite the public and private efforts of the Opposition, it has become pellucid that the Dr. Denzil Douglas led Government of St. Kitts and Nevis will not permit this Bill to be debated in the National Assembly as he and his Government continue to deny our country the necessary mechanisms to fight governmental corruption…
“The members of the Opposition are deeply concerned that some 28 years after St. Kitts and Nevis became an independent country, the necessary statutory mechanisms to prevent Government corruption are still wholly absent. Our country has no Integrity in Public Life legislation, no Freedom of Information legislation and no provisions which could provide a check on governmental corruption. This situation is not in keeping with modern democratic traditions and St. Kitts and Nevis lags badly behind most of its Caribbean neighbours in this regard.”
In 1996, an Integrity in Public Life Bill was tabled in the Federal Parliament by the government and, to date, it has still not been passed.
The Opposition - which comprises Leader Brantley and the Hons. Vance Amory, Shawn Richards, Eugene Hamilton and Senator Vincent Byron - sought to take matters into its own hands by submitting in mid-April 2011 an Integrity in Public Life Bill 2011 (Private Members Bill) to the Speaker’s office “for tabling for consideration in the Parliament in St. Kitts Nevis. This Bill was presented by the Opposition in Parliament as is permissible under the relevant rules of Parliament”.
The release explains that attempts by the Opposition to move the Bill along have been hindered and pieces of communication forwarded by the Opposition have gone unanswered.
“It was therefore with grave concern and considerable suspicion that we discovered that the Integrity in Public Life Bill would not be tabled at all in Parliament due to parliamentary maneuverings by the sitting Government led by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas. On the 29th of April, 2011 the Speaker of the Parliament, the Honourable Curtis Martin, refused to allow the Bill to be placed on the Order Paper for reasons that are patently erroneous and contrived. Since that time, the Opposition has tried valiantly to get this matter to the floor of Parliament for debate. Various letters written to the Leader of Government Business in Parliament, the Honourable Sam Condor, seeking to move this matter forward have not even been acknowledged.
“The Opposition wrote to the Honourable Sam Condor on the 25th August, 2011 and on the 17th October 2011 with copies to the Speaker of the Assembly and the other members of Parliament. Both letters raised the issue of Integrity in Public Life and the tabling of this critical piece of legislation in the National Assembly for debate. The letter of 17th October, 2011 also raised the issue of the continued unacceptable vacancy of the position of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. Neither letter has to date been acknowledged and several verbal conversations before and since these letters have yielded nothing from the Government side.”
In light thereof, the Opposition members, as indicated in the release, took the unanimous decision to boycott the Budget Address and the ensuing Debate as they “cannot continue to stand by and permit the affairs of the country to run in the manner in which the Labour/NRP
Government has run them. The lack of transparency and accountability and the refusal of the Government to take sensible steps to instill confidence in the governmental processes demands from the Opposition a firm and unequivocal response.”
Brantley has made a call for the people of St. Christopher and Nevis to take a stand with them for the enactment of the anti-corruption tool.
“The citizens and residents of this country to whom we are accountable must know that we did not arrive at this decision easily. However, we feel that as the country deteriorates in terms of its economy, security and social order, we must sound the clarion call that all is not well in St. Kitts and Nevis and the Dr. Denzil Douglas-led Government, both by its actions and inaction is forcing our beloved Nation over the precipice.
“The Opposition accordingly asks the people of this country to stand with us as we categorically and comprehensively reject the efforts by the Dr. Denzil Douglas led Government to deny our Nation the necessary legislative tools to fight corruption in public life. The Opposition also issues the clear warning that it cannot and will not be business as usual going forward. Our Nation can no longer afford to be held hostage to the naked ambitions and self-serving manipulations of a privileged few. It is time that all persons of goodwill exhibit the necessary courage to stand together and in one voice proclaim ‘Enough is Enough’.”
