BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - PRIME Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, while speaking in Parliament this morning (July 8), named former Senior Government Ministers Sam Condor and Dr. Timothy Harris among those who allegedly crossed the barrier that was placed to block the unauthorised route of Church Street for a unity movement march held last Friday afternoon, to which the two Members of Parliament denied the accusation.
PM Douglas had also called the names of former Leader of the People's Action Movement (PAM) Linsday Grant, PAM's candidate for Constituency Number Two Jonel Powel and former Government Minister Dwyer Astaphan for allegedly committing that offence.
Following rebuttals by Harris and Condor, PM Douglas stated that he was reporting on what he was “officially informed of”.
Grant was arrested and charged with obstruction on Friday afternoon (July 5) and was later released that night.
“Mr. Speaker, the rally and the march they were approved by the police; march approved from four to six in the afternoon, and the rally from six to 10 in the evening.
“Mr. Speaker, the police organised the route that the march would take and the march was allowed to start as requested and to proceed along Cayon Street, then will go into College Street and then will wind its way eventually to Bank Street. Barricades were placed at the intersection of Cayon Street and College Street to ensure that the march would take the direction as given by the police.
“As the march proceeded, the leadership of PAM led the march. The leadership of PAM went along the prescribed route. But there is one Lindsay Grant, the former Leader of PAM, and accompanied by one called Jonel Powell and one called Sam Condor. The Honourable Sam Condor and one called the Honourable Timothy Harris and one called Dwyer Astaphan, among others, broke the barriers and came and continued to wind their way along Cayon Street into Church Street and were eventually confronted by the police,” Dr. Douglas said.
As PM Douglas neared conclusion of the above statements, he was interrupted by Harris who claimed that the Hon. Member for Number Six should not be allowed to pursue on “untruth”. “How dare the Member say that I break (those) barricades? There was no barricade which I broke. The Honourable Member cannot proceed with that untruth, especially when he was not a witness. He was not even in the country.”
According to Harris, such statements were “deliberate falsehood being perpetrated by the Member for Number Six Mr. Speaker, and he ought not to continue”.
He lashed out at PM Douglas for calling peoples’ names who were not present in the Assembly.
The Speaker of the House, Curtis Martin, cautioned PM Douglas to “please to be careful with naming people”, to which PM Douglas replied, “Of course, of course.”
Martin further said that he did not want to “get into tit for tat”, adding “where people cannot defend themselves, please avoid that".
Shortly after, Condor followed in denying the accusation.
“I just want to say that I, Sam Condor, nobody can say they saw me broke any barrier and walk down Church Street. I never walked down Church Street...never! That did not happen. So the Member must not say that. That is not true it never happened!”
In addressing the Speaker, PM Douglas said: “Mr. Speaker, I report to you what I have been officially informed of. That they continued with Lindsay Grant, the former Leader of PAM, continued along the route that was not prescribed by the police.”
Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Five, Shawn Richards jumped in on the matter.
“Mr. Speaker, you just ruled that you cannot be in here calling persons’ names who cannot defend themselves because they are not in here. And that is not the first time that I've heard you made that particular ruling, but yet the Member for Number Six is deliberately calling persons’ names in this Assembly... that should not happen.”
Richards pointed out that Grant was not there to defend himself, adding “and if we are going to be consistent with the rules, we have to be consistent at all times”.
Martin cautioned the Members of Parliament on the matter about their conduct of outbursts and talking.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen do not get under my skin; none of you on either side of the aisle. What I'm saying is we’re here to do the people’s business. Let's act maturely. I'm not entertaining any further discussion on this matter except to say Honourable Member for Number Six please avoid things that are controversial...”
The Speaker was interrupted from finishing his cautionary statement, to which he further warned the Members about their behaviour saying, “None of you on this side or that side is going to rule this chair.”
The Member for Number Eight, Eugene Hamilton, was singled out “especially” for being “disrespectful.”
Martin then advised PM Douglas to “let’s keep it clean and factual”.
“Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to put on record that Lindsay Grant was arrested by the police on Friday. That is a public record. So I don’t understand what is the problem here! I am saying that he led a contingent that marched along a route that was not allowed by the police,” PM Douglas said.
PM Douglas had given details of the Friday’s organised march and rally in which he said Leaders of PAM sought permission three days in advance.
“On the second day of July, the People's Action Movement applied for permission to hold a march and rally in Basseterre scheduled for Friday the 5th of July this year. In their letter, they said that they would want to start at four O'clock in the afternoon. They would want to start from Greenlands and they would end at Bank Street with a rally. They also asked for permission to block Bank Street for the purpose of erecting tents and for use of a public address system to announce the above mention public meeting three days prior for the event and during the course of the same day. They also sought request to have a hi-fi system and noisy instruments at the said public meeting.”
