BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOR months, persons have awaited the time when promised disciplinary action would be taken against St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party members the Hon. Sam Condor and Dr. Timothy Harris. And it seems that time is less than two weeks away.
Things went south between the two former Ministers of Government and their estranged government following the passage of two key pieces of legislation: the Land for Debt Swap and the Increase in Senators Bill. Both men spoke out against the government-proposed Bills and Harris was subsequently fired from the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas-led Cabinet. And shortly thereafter, Condor – who held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour, Social Security etc., tendered his resignation.
According to an explanation forwarded by Vice Chairman of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party and Minister of Government the Hon. Nigel Carty, Harris’ behaviour was not in the best interest of the party and as such disciplinary action was to have been taken against him.
And Condor, while not as forthright in his criticisms as Harris – according to Carty – is also to be disciplined.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes on Wednesday evening (April 24), Carty explained that on May 19, 2013, the SKNLP would be holding its annual conference and the hope is that both Condor and Harris’ disciplinary matters would be addressed.
“Officially, they are still members of the organisation and officially they still hold their positions as Deputy Leader and as Chairman respectively, but that will change very quickly once the party meets either in its conference the 12th or in a special conference before then.
There is the likelihood that they would be expelled from the party. I am not going to predetermine what the party would want to do because once you get there, the members are going to indicate the direction in which they would want to move with respect to the two gentlemen….
“It is highly likely that a special conference would be held before…All the branches have already agreed to it, that’s the only thing that is required really…”
Crossing the floor?
Asked if he believes Condor and Harris would cross the Parliamentary Floor if expelled from the SKNLP, Carty said he doesn’t think that it would in any way influence their decision. He however added that both men’s actions are indicative of their anti-government and pro-opposition stance.
“There crossing the floor doesn’t mean anything more than they have done in the past. They crossing the floor would be tantamount to what they have done in the past. They have shown their hands clearly that they are working with the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and other parties on the Opposition Benches. They have voted against the government’s bills…and since that time they have also taken the government to court specifically to have those pieces of legislation overturned.
“They have also put their names on paper alongside every member of the Opposition – who is elected that is – to indicate that they’d be voting, if and when the Motion of No Confidence does come before the House, in favour of the Motion of No Confidence. So I am not certain that there is anything that they can do that is a clearer demonstration that they have in fact crossed the floor.
“I don’t think that their expulsion from the party would encourage them to do anything more in terms of encouraging them to cross the floor or not, because it is their strategy to confuse those persons who support the Labour Party to make them feel as though they are still members of the organisation when they in fact are not.”
