BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WASHINGTON ‘WASHIE’ ARCHIBALD is taking his advice to “The Six” elected parliamentarians to yet another level and, in addition to suggesting they withdraw the Motion of No Confidence (MONC) case from the hands of the Court, he is proposing that they re-file it with the Speaker of the Federal Assembly.
Archibald, social commentator, teacher and historian, gave that bit of advice during an exclusive interview with this publication late last week.
In a previous interview, Archibald adamantly suggested that with an extended battle ahead with regard to the current Court action initiated by the Opposition, they should withdraw the case from the Court and rely on the court of public opinion.
“The government has argued in the Court that the Court doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the Parliament; they themselves have said that. The Court cannot tell the Parliament what to do because the implied argument that Parliament is the highest Court in the land. So this is what the respondents in this case are saying. Therefore, since they acknowledge that the Court has no jurisdiction over the Parliament, they should agree if the Opposition decides to withdraw the matter from the Court. It would seem like a loss of face but I think it is a change in tactics in the light of the kind of chicaneries that your opponent is using makes it necessary…”
Archibald argues that the urgency of the tabling of the MONC has been violated and has led to “Dr. Douglas and his henchmen giggling their heads off because they think that because the matter is in Court they could just ignore it and refuse to take any action in the Parliament”.
As an appropriate response, Archibald suggested that the Opposition should “take a cue from the attitude of the Government. Withdraw the case from the Court, re-file the Motion of No Confidence right away and wait for the response of the Government a second time. And this second time they would take this matter to the court of public opinion and galvanise their supporters to protest against any further delay in dealing with the Vote of No Confidence. I believe anything should be tried now, otherwise the matter is going to be a stalemate”.
The historian informed that he had some difficulty understanding how it is that the government is arguing in Court that the Court has no jurisdiction over the Parliament, yet it refuses to have the MONC tabled.
