There are eleven seats in the National Assembly of St. Kitts & Nevis.
On December 6th, 2012, the Opposition sent notice of a No Confidence Motion. And immediately, instead of facing it head on, the Government started to play hide and seek (we call it “hoop” here in the Federation) with it.
A confident Prime Minister would’ve accommodated it with aplomb, and in fast fashion, and he would’ve jumped up and down, and all over the Opposition.
But the Denzil Douglas was anything but confident. He knew that he’d be defeated. He knew that Sam Condor and Timothy Harris would support the Motion.
And he has been running scared for the last two months--a totally unheard of delay in any self-respecting, modern society and democracy.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: No Confidence Motions are as important as elections. The only difference between the two is that elections come about once every five years and are determined directly by the votes of the people, while No Confidence Motions can come at any time, and are determined by the votes of the people’s elected representatives in Parliament.
And just as it is utterly sacrilegious to deny the people their right to a free and fair vote at elections, it’s equally sacrilegious to deny them their right to kick out a Government through a No Confidence Vote.
The No Confidence Vote is the people’s ultimate and only constitutional and parliamentary tool to keep a Government in check between elections.
And instead of acting in accordance with set parliamentary protocols, and with respect, decency and accountability in Government, and instead of standing up like a man to face the parliamentary music, the Prime Minister is exposing his cowardice and ugliness.
He’s cheating the people of their rights under their Constitution.
He said on the radio that he and his colleagues aren’t in favour of the Motion. And that’s okay. But we don’t want to hear him say so in a press conference. We want to hear him say so in Parliament as he faces the Motion.
He also says that people are making a song and dance about the Motion.
And so they should! The Motion is a fundamental element of our constitution and democracy. It’s a big, big deal. It cannot and must not be downplayed.
The reality of the situation is that Denzil Douglas is heading up a minority Government.
We recall that following the 4:4 tie between PAM and Labour in the 1993 elections, he took to the airwaves to protest the action of then Governor-General, Sir Clement Arrindell, for swearing in Dr. Kennedy Simmonds and his 5-member minority Government. He said that the Labour Party had received more votes than had PAM and NRP combined in that election. And that the PAM-NRP Government had no legitimacy.
But what do we have today?
Douglas leads up a 5-person Government, while 6 elected Parliamentarians representing 54% of the popular vote in the general elections of January 25, 2010, will vote in favour of the Motion to kick him out.
Simple arithmetic!! The same arithmetic that Douglas likes to talk about has now come to bite him in the backside! And he cannot handle it!
Is there a difference between 1993 and 2013? No.
The fact that Douglas had won (and I use the word “won” loosely, even recklessly) a majority of seats in the 2010 elections gives him no more legitimacy than if he had formed a 5-member Government at the time.
I also heard one caller to a radio show today claim that as long as Sam Condor and Timothy Harris remain on the Government’s backbenches in Parliament, Denzil Douglas has a majority Government.
Utter rubbish.
Democracy is not a static phenomenon. It is dynamic, and the Constitution feeds into that need for it to be dynamic, providing remedies, recipes and guidance for situations as they arise from time to time.
The overarching consideration for all to face is that Condor and Harris would, and will, vote in favour of the Motion. So their being on the Government backbenches is absolutely no excuse for Douglas or his surrogates to claim a majority Government, and to continue hiding from the voice of the people.
Indeed, if they really believed what they‘re saying, they wouldn’t be so afraid to face the Motion in Parliament.
Denzil Douglas is on trial here. He cannot be allowed to decide if and when his trial will take place. That’s not how justice works. And he must not be allowed to get away with it.
He now heads up a minority Government.
He’s in the same situation as Kennedy Simmonds was in 1993, only worse, because the people of this country have a bigger book to throw at him today than they had to throw at Kennedy Simmonds 20 years ago.
