The last six days in St. Kitts & Nevis have been very eventful.
Last Friday, Dr. Timothy Harris was fired from the Cabinet. The Prime Minister chose to make the announcement at 10 pm that night.
Dr. Harris’ crime? Standing up for principle.
Then on Tuesday 29 January2 013, interestingly the 78th anniversary of the Buckleys Riot, which was such an historic move by the ordinary people against oppression and injustice, the Prime Minister, aided and abetted by some of his trough feeders, perpetrated an equally historic, but this time unspeakably outrageous assault on the integrity and credibility of our Parliament, and dealt a serious body blow to democracy in St. Kitts & Nevis.
He had known that Dr. Harris and Mr. Sam Condor were opposed to the Bill to increase the number of Senators in the Parliament. But that didn’t matter one bit to him, because Senators and other unelected and intrinsically powerless and dependent persons have always been more important or, better put, more useful, to him than duly elected Parliamentarians, especially popular and charismatic ones like Dr. Harris and Mr. Condor.
In fact, among other things, he was determined to take the Bill to completion, if only to show the two gentlemen that he is boss and that he must always have his way.
And it didn’t matter to him that six out of the eleven elected Members of Parliament, representing collectively about 53% of the popular vote in the last general elections, were against the Bill.
Indeed, it seems not to matter to him that at least six Representatives do not support him as the Prime Minister of this Federation.
He said that he was not about to relinquish the Prime Ministership, and he accused Dr. Harris of being power hungry because Dr. Harris wants to be Prime Minister.
But Dr. Douglas has been Prime Minister for the last 17 years. He has virtually destroyed the Labour Party, the financial and fiscal health of the nation, and a lot of other things. He has sold out the patrimony of the people. He’s the worst leader in the history of Liamuiga, from the times of Tegreman to the present.
It’s he who is power hungry.
And he said that the people elected him to be Prime Minister.
Not true! He is the leader of the Labour Party. His Party won an election, and he won his seat. So by virtue of the system under which we operate, he became Prime Minister.
But he remains Prime Minister, until an election is held, at the will of the elected Members of Parliament, and if six of them do not support him, he has no right whatsoever to be Prime Minister. No right whatsoever!
We need to understand that, inter alia, there are two major rights that lie in the hands of the people. One is the vote at elections every five years or so, and the other is the Vote of No Confidence which their elected Representatives can exercise on their behalf at any time between elections.
Both are sacred, and neither more sacred than the other.
This is not pre-1952.
This is 2013, and we’re an independent nation. We say we’re a proud, progressive and modern people. If we really are, then we must realize that we must stifle any effort by Denzil Douglas to dilly dally with our right to have a Motion of No Confidence tested in the Parliament.
The urgency of it is all the greater because everybody knows that such a Motion would succeed, and that he would have to stand down or a general election held.
That is the will of the people, as articulated by their Parliamentary Representatives, and he must not be allowed to wiggle out of this and play that he is a bona fide Prime Minister.
Neither he nor the Cabinet has a mandate to do anything in terms of forward movement. He must not be given any more time.
He has to stand down or call an election. Now.
The regional and international diplomatic community and media need to know what this man is doing here in St. Kitts & Nevis. And they must not wait until it’s too late to talk some sense into him.
Meanwhile, in defiance of all that is right, he proceeded on Tuesday to appoint a new Attorney General so that he could get himself an extra vote in Parliament to pass the Budget and whatever else he thinks he can get away with.
He must not be allowed to do any of that.
Tuesday’s shenanigans in Parliament will be challenged and could be made a real nonsense of, and a colossal embarrassment to this nation, in time to come.
Then the final nail was hammered into his coffin today when the beloved and highly popular Deputy Prime Minister, Sam Condor, resigned from the Cabinet.
The economic and social partners, as well as citizens individually and collectively must now finish the job and rid this nation of the tyranny of Denzil Douglas and his gang.
Doctor, you’re done!
