BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IT appears that when the draft Electoral Boundaries Commission is prepared, at least one member of the Commission would not be affixing his seal of approval to it.
Commission member the Hon. Vincent ‘Juicy’ Byron – while speaking with this publication – expressed that he has made clear his position to the Commission that he does not think the boundaries should be changed at this time.
Byron outlined three main reasons for which he feels the way he does; one of which hinges on the pending Motion of No Confidence which was filed by Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the Federal Parliament the Hon. Mark Brantley, against the Dr. Denzil L. Douglas-led government.
The first he explained is “based on fact that at this point in time there is a Motion of No Confidence pending to be tabled. I felt that it is totally against anything that I would stand for..for the Parliament to want to change the boundaries that could affect the same people who have brought this Motion of No Confidence. And to me that is just as uncalled for.
“So, it is a position I’ve had from day one on February 27. Before any business was done by the Commission, I raised that as a preliminary objection. I asked for the Commission to be suspended while a legal opinion was had and I have repeated the objection to any work being done by the Commission while there was a Motion of No Confidence. I feel very strongly about it.”
Further explaining the reasons for his stance, Byron made reference to the Preliminary Census Data for 2011, which is the information upon which the proposed boundary changes were suggested.
“It had to do with the validity of the data that was being used, because the data that was circulated and given to us has been styled Preliminary Census Data for 2011. And it says very clearly that there may be some changes, even if marginal. The chairman has twice sought opinion from the Attorney General. The second opinion is very instructive because he clearly states in that opinion that he would not recommend the use of the preliminary data as is because as it says it is not final…
“He goes on to suggest that in our small society where a marginal change in data could affect the outcome of an election where the margin for victory is very little. I feel that the explanation that was given did not justify or in any change his initial statement that he would not recommend the use of preliminary census data. And so I maintained by objection."
The final point on which Byron said he objected to the changing of the boundaries was that more focus is being placed on the importance of representatives for the different constituencies while sacrificing the identity of each village. He added that the communities are being dismembered and grouped with others which should not happen.
