On Tuesday, 15 January, 2013, history was made.
For the first time since the introduction of Cabinet Government in St. Kitts & Nevis, we saw a member of Cabinet speaking out in Parliament against a Bill.
Indeed, not one, but two members of Cabinet speaking out.
And not just any two: the two most senior members after the Prime Minister, namely, Mr. Sam Condor, Deputy Prime Minister, and Dr. Timothy Harris, Senior Minister.
The Bill was intended to increase the number of Senators in Parliament from three to six.
Now, let’s give this some perspective.
The practice is that Cabinet members do not oppose Bills, or in any other way vote against the Government in Parliament, given the custom that Cabinet decisions are treated as being unanimous.
So such action by a Cabinet member can be regarded as a de facto resignation.
But we have to look at the whole picture. And when we do so, we find out that it’s also true that the Chairman of Cabinet ought not to proceed with matters, especially important matters, on which there is substantial disagreement. And for obvious reasons.
This matter was important in a number of critical ways, philosophical, administrative, financial, and political, as was well articulated by a number of MPs on Tuesday, and as was evidenced by the massive anticipation and interest among the public. For goodness’ sake, virtually every radio and TV in this land was tuned in to Parliament, many for the first time. That had never happened before.
And there was substantial disagreement on it, as was evidenced by the presentations of both Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris.
So how could it have reached the Parliament, given the fact that: (i) Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris are the two senior members of Cabinet after the Prime Minister; (ii) they are, respectively, the Deputy Leader and Chairman of the Labour Party; (iii) they are two of the seven elected members of Cabinet, which means that they represent nearly 30% of the elected membership of Cabinet; and (iv) they are two of the most compelling figures in our politics?
They represent far too much, for their shared view on such an important matter to be completely and rudely disregarded and dismissed by a Prime Minister who ‘justified’ bringing the Bill to Parliament on the ground that the rest of the Cabinet wanted it.
So who are those other Cabinet members?
With respect, unlike Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris, it’s no secret that Dr. Asim Martin, Ms. Marcella Liburd, Mr. Glenn Phillip and Mr. Patrice Nisbett would struggle to win 200 votes if they were to contest an election on their own. They are, at best, minor political figures.
Again with respect, even more minor are Mr. Nigel Carty and Mr. Ricky Skerritt, two political Lilliputians, and like others in the Cabinet, mere yard fowls of the Prime Minister.
Maybe they don’t know that sooner or later yard fowls end up in a pot, or even sometimes under a passing bus. Maybe they don’t care, and are just enjoying the yard while they can.
However you look at it, consideration of percentage, seniority, and political bodyweight would prevent any respectful and prudent leader from dismissing the views of Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris and proceeding with this Bill on the basis of the support of political lightweights and Lilliputians in Cabinet.
But this Prime Minister did. And he had his yard fowls saying in Parliament that this was a Cabinet decision, as they sought disingenuously and arrogantly to lecture the nation on Cabinet collectiveness and other principles of which they seem to know little, and care even less.
On examination of the entire situation, therefore, I don’t see the stand taken by these two gentlemen as being tantamount to resignation. They were forced there by an insecure Prime Minister who has long lost his way, aided and abetted by a handful of yard fowls. He wants them out, and as he forces them out, he looks to blame them and have Labour supporters brand them as traitors.
But Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris are two intelligent and wise men. And they were not going to allow this travesty to play out. So they took a stand…not for the first time, but for the first time so boldly and compellingly on the floor of Parliament.
They had expressed great dissatisfaction with the land-for-debt swap Bill that had gone to Parliament some months ago, and also with this Bill to double the number of Senators. So every man Jack knew. The whole country knew.
Yet the Prime Minister still allowed the Bill to be brought to Parliament, and as the yard fowls sought to downplay and rationalize it, they tried to fool people into thinking that it was well intentioned.
But the Bill was only about more power and more punishment, the former for the Prime Minister and the latter for Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris. An act of callous, drunken arrogance and vindictiveness. That’s all it was. And not one sensible person in St. Kitts & Nevis was fooled by this ‘Duggie’. Further, the ‘Duggie’ has now backfired, and is backfiring more and more each day.
Indeed, I verily believe that on the night of Tuesday, 15 January, 2013, a powerful light of truth was beamed into the minds, hearts and souls of the people of this country, pushing aside the pall of darkness of deception which Dr. Denzil Douglas had cast over them.
A historic and defining moment.
Thanks very much to the stand taken by these two gentlemen. Mr. Condor was fantastic. Indeed, he was ‘Samtastic’. And Dr. Harris was amazing. No, he was ‘Timazing’.
And one of the ironies of the day came when it was announced that the National Bank had invited Parliamentarians to lunch that day in honour of the new Governor-General, and that there’d be a three-hour lunch break.
Of all of the other days in the month, why was that day selected? Here it was, not just a controversial bill, but one of immense political significance, causing anxiety among the people; one that had been adjourned twice before; and one that was being debated in the middle of the Nevis Island Elections, which meant that three candidates would be away from their campaigns for the entire day.
And knowing the track record of lateness of the Prime Minister, God knows when the sitting would’ve commenced, plus the three-hour break would take proceedings late into the night, and affect a number of people.
Why not another day? Why did the Governor-General not advise, or the Prime Minister not request, accordingly?
The irony is that it worked out so that Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris couldn’t have chosen a better time to speak.
Prime time.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Their presentations forced the adjournment of proceedings on the Bill, making it the third time it has been adjourned! Another shameful record for Denzil Douglas.
He realized that the Bill would be defeated, so he backed off, yet again, having it adjourned to 29 January. But don’t be surprised if it doesn’t ever see the light of day again. Douglas doesn’t want any further embarrassment and he doesn’t want to be the first Prime Minister in the history of this country to lose the vote on a bill. He’s already making history for all of the wrong reasons. He’s on a roll…down the slippery slope of ignominy.
In addition, he’s facing a No Confidence Motion from which he’s ducking like a tail-ender facing a fiery fast bowler in cricket. He’s being made to look like a sissy, instead of the invincible warrior that he had worked hard to make himself into.
And that’s tumbling up his tummy even more, because he’s deadly afraid of the Motion. Let’s face it, this is yet another part of his record of ignominy as the leader of this country.
And the more the light shines on him, the uglier he looks.
The truth is that he’s under an obligation to give the Motion top priority, and every day that he remains in office without accommodating it is another day in which he is stealing power and control over the Government and people of this country. Every day that he does that makes him an interloper and trespasser.
He’s obliged to swiftly give the Parliament the chance to ask and answer this most critical of questions. This isn’t a pig and poultry debate. No. This is a Motion challenging his Government and himself as Prime Minister. It goes to the very heart of democracy. London, Washington DC, New York, Ottawa, Taipei, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, The Hague, Port-of-Spain, Kingston, Pretoria and Brasilia are watching. Our church leaders are watching. The world media is waiting to pounce. And potential investors are considering possible alternatives.
And a real and fair warrior would graciously face the challenge and accept its results.
He’s playing sissy politics, and playing with people’s rights in the process. And more pressure needs to be applied, and from all angles.
Meanwhile, he’ll want to get that extra vote in Parliament, so it’s quite conceivable that he’ll withdraw this infamous Bill, bring the Budget to the Parliament very shortly after the Nevis elections are over, and during the Private Business part of the proceeding, have a new Attorney General sworn in.
That removes the numbers obstacle, allows him to pass the Budget (just in case Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris might be minded to oppose it), and try to carry on for as long as possible, until he’s ready to call the election.
And after that, maybe even before, he can be expected to relieve both Mr. Condor and Dr. Harris of their portfolios, have them censured in some way by his Party, and replace them as candidates by two new yard fowls, one of whom is said to be an avowed Communist.
This is serious stuff. We already have a leader who loves to be an iron-fisted ruler. Then we have certain characters in security posts who are also declared communists and who proclaim that elections are a waste of time and that Dr. Douglas should pass power to a family member or an otherwise anointed person, when he’s ready, and so on.
That’s what we have now.
But thanks, in no small measure, to the stand taken in Parliament two nights ago by ‘Mr. Samtastic’ and ‘Dr.Timazing’, that’s not we’ll have going forward.
History will be very kind to them for that.
