BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORMER Parliamentarian G. A. Dwyer Astaphan has expressed that the Senators (Increase of Number) Bill, 2012, which is to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow (Nov. 21), is nothing but an attempt by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas to cement his hold on the majority vote in the House.
Over the past weekend, a press release was issued by the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary –Erasmus Williams – explaining that that the Bill, among others, would be tabled in Parliament on that day.
The release further explained that this Bill will be given a second reading and debated.
Astaphan – in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes - said he would not accuse the Prime Minister of having ulterior motives because – as far as he is concerned – his motives are as clear as day.
“I believe the motive is for the Prime Minister to have the numbers he wants to pass the legislation and the resolutions that he wants to pass; one of which would probably be the boundaries resolution and others.
“Now one could say, well he does have a majority now. Well he does on paper, but with the difficulties that have played out before the entire country between himself on the one hand and Ministers Condor and Harris on the other, he may not feel that he can rely on their support for just about anything that he tries to push through the Parliament, so he wants to pump up the number now…”
The Bill cites three reasons for bringing this piece of legislation to the Parliament: (1) to facilitate the election of a Deputy Speaker, (2) to provide for more human resources in dealing with more complex government business and (3) to address issues of gender imbalance within the law-making body.
And, according to Astaphan, taken at face value, these explanations are laudable but because they do not represent the embodiment of Dr. Douglas’ intentions, they constitute a farce.
“The rational given is to facilitate the election of a Deputy Speaker. It has been found necessary since when? The Prime Minister was given the opportunity since after the 2010 election and he didn’t do so. And I think one of the reasons that had been given then was that the financial situation of the government did not allow for that.
“I don’t believe that the financial situation in November 2012 is any better than it was in January 2010. One can say that the government debt has been reduced and that is true, but people are still being laid off…So the rational has to be it’s not necessary now, it was always necessary, and to do it now indicates that the Prime Minister has his reasons for wanting to introduce it.”
Regarding the second point forwarded by the government for the Bill, Astaphan criticised Dr. Douglas for not devising more economical means of dealing with the “complexity of running government business”.
“Are you going to tell me that putting two new senators on the government side in the Parliament will handle the complexities of government in this day and age? Does he intend to make them ministers? In which case you are looking at an additional $300 000-plus per year, maybe $500 000 if you include other components to it…We don’t need bigger government, we need more efficient government, more accountable and transparent government.
“When we are talking about streamlining government, he finds it necessary to make government even bigger. In fact, I don’t know if this flies in the face of what the IMF has recommended to streamline government. I don’t gainsay the fact that a Deputy Speaker is constitutionally required, but they cannot force Senator Byron to (take up that position)…and one of his (Dr. Douglas’) persons should have been appointed Deputy Speaker and not act as a Minister…”
Astaphan referred to the third reason as “a red herring”, explaining that even if a woman senator were among the selected senators, they would act only as “trimming”, especially because only “Dr. Douglas and a small cabal run the government”.
With discord between Dr. Douglas and his Ministers Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor evident, Astaphan expressed, “I personally don’t think he (Dr. Douglas) sees Mr. Condor and Mr. Harris as part of his dispensation. I don’t think he sees them as part of his arrangement. I could be very wrong. I don’t know what they are thinking among themselves. I am just speaking as an individual in the country and, to me, there is no secret that he has been looking at others even since the last election to run in those constituencies. It is no secret that all is not well between him on the one hand and those two on the other.”
Also as part of Wednesday’s sitting, as explained in Williams’ release, the Integrity in Public Life Bill is to receive its first reading.
Individuals and groups across the Federation have hankered for years for this Bill to be passed into law. And only last year the Opposition made an attempt at having the Bill tabled in Parliament.
According to Astaphan, this Bill is of paramount importance, but its tabling on Wednesday – to receive only one reading - “is part and parcel of the effort to distract people” from the bigger picture.
