BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IT was announced that tomorrow (Dec. 11) is Budget Day, but with a motion of No Confidence filed against the government of its Leader should the latter take precedence and be debated before any other business is addressed in the House of Parliament?
The answer which comes from historian, educator and social commentator Washington ‘Washie’ Archibald is that the Opposition’s motion of No Confidence should take precedence at tomorrow’s sitting of the Federal Parliament.
On Wednesday last, Opposition Leader the Hon. Mark Brantley filed a motion of No Confidence against Prime Minister Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and on the following day replaced it with a resolution of No Confidence in the Government and its Leader.
According to the land’s Constitution, at least three days’ notice must be given in the filing of such a motion before it can be debated.
And as opined by Archibald, the Opposition should insist that the motion be debated tomorrow and not the Budget.
“If the Opposition is really serious about the vote of No Confidence, they should try to prevent the Budget from taking place because, according to Commonwealth Parliamentary practice, a vote of No Confidence takes prescience over any other legislation until it is debated. How can you debate a budget when the Opposition is so urgent on the matter of the No Confidence which they placed in the Government? The Opposition must have reasons to have a vote of No Confidence. A vote of No Confidence is an urgent matter; it means that the government has failed, the government is a faltering government and the government must be removed immediately.
“So how can you have an important thing as the Budget Address taking precedence over the Opposition’s contention that there is No Confidence in the Government? I believe that if the Budget is brought up, the Opposition should come forward and ask that the vote of No Confidence be debated.
“If the Speaker – who I hope will better by Tuesday – insists that the Budget debate must take precedence and puts the vote of No Confidence on a back burner, there should be a decisive protest from the Opposition Benches over that matter. And, in my view, the Budget Address should be boycotted by the Opposition. I can’t see anything else that the Opposition can do. If they had mounted a protest against the government’s relevance and eligibility, how could they debate the government on an important thing like the Budget? It just doesn’t add up!”
Laying the issue at the feet of the Hon. Speaker of the National Assembly, Archibald suggested that he, in the interest of democracy and his reputation, should allow the motion to be debated tomorrow.
“I believe that the Opposition has a duty to protest against the imposition of the Budget Address in preference to the urgency of the vote of No Confidence. What I think would happen is that the Speaker would have to be very careful because the Commonwealth is looking on and the Speaker would want to maintain his relevance as a Commonwealth Speaker.
“He has already tainted his reputation with certain acts of bias and he will have to prove to the Commonwealth and the rest of the democracy in the world that he does not have any special interest for or against the vote of No Confidence. He should allow the vote of No Confidence to take place. And I suspect that it was this dilemma that was facing him on Friday that really made his absent from the meeting of the House of Assembly.”
According to Archibald’s view of the situation, the Opposition seems to have the upper hand at the moment and should “use every inch of the weapon that they have to ensure that they get the results that they want”.
