BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE special Convention of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) which was being planned to discuss disciplinary action against Party Chairman Dr. Timothy Harris is expected to also address action against the Party’s Deputy Leader Sam Condor and could see both of them being expelled from the Party.
In late January, 2013, Dr. Harris was fired by Prime Minister Dr. the Rt. Hon. Denzil L. Douglas’ Cabinet and executive members of the SKNLP – of which Dr. Douglas is the Leader – expressed concern that Dr. Harris’ statements and actions were not in the best interest of the Party. He was even accused of destroying it.
Deputy Chairman of the Party, the Hon. Nigel Carty has explained to SKNVibes that disciplinary action was being considered as it relates to Harris – Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven - and that a special Convention would have been held to decide upon the action to be taken.
While Carty did not give an exact date, he said the Convention is expected to be held before this month ends and it would happen once the organisers are certain that all parties would have had ample prior notice.
“What our Constitution states is that there is a certain amount of time which must be given to all parties concerned, the branches of the Party as well as the individuals whose matters would be dealt with. And so the date has been identified to give enough notice. But in speaking with the Secretariat, we are just trying to assess whether we are certain that we’ve given each branch and all the persons involved enough time. So we may have to reschedule that date, but we are pressing for that date…before the end of March.”
Carty informed that the Convention would also seek to address disciplinary action to be taken against Condor – Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Three. He said the conduct of Condor is akin to that of Harris, albeit the former took the form of “a more clandestine approach” while the latter’s was “blatant”.
“But recent events have – in fact – put members of the Party in a very clear position as to where he (Condor) is at.”
This publication questioned Carty about the possibility of two of the SKNLP’s more senior comrades being expelled from the Party, to which he replied, “We believe that that would be a consideration. The Constitution gives the right to members to expel members, and so that will be a consideration.”
Meanwhile, two individuals – Dr. Vance Gilbert and Attorney-General Jason Hamilton – have expressed interest in contesting the upcoming general elections for the SKNLP in St. Christopher Seven and St. Christopher Three respectively.
But, as explained by Carty, before they could be named as candidates “the Party has to go through a formal mechanism of identifying candidates…
“Both have interest in the two seats. Party has to go through formal mechanism of identifying candidates and we believe those two certainly are up for consideration in the respective constituencies in which they have interest”.
