BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Government of Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas continues to meet in Parliament under tight security to debate bills and make laws all by itself, while opposition Members of Parliament carry on with their protest by boycotting the law-making body over the non-tabling of two Motions of No Confidence.
The first No Confidence Motion was filed nine months ago, which the Opposition said should be given priority over any other business of the House.
“We continue to challenge the legitimacy of the Denzil Douglas Administration, and in our view the government continues to function without the appropriate constitutional basis,” said Dr. Timothy Harris, Leader of the People’s Labour Party, on behalf of opposition members. “We see the convening of Parliament without the tabling and debate of the Motion of No Confidence as abuse of executive power.”
While the Opposition Benches remain vacant, Dr. Douglas said the absent MPs are shirking their responsibilities to those who elected them to do their business.
However, the Opposition has charged that the Prime Minister does not have the legitimacy to lead because he does not command the majority of elected members in the House, after two of his senior ministers, Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor, defected, forming their own party, The People’s Labour Party.
Out of a number of 11 elected representatives in the Legislature, six said that they do not support the government of Prime Minister Douglas and would vote in support of the Motion of No Confidence.
As the saga continues, days before St. Kitts and Nevis celebrates its 30th anniversary of Independence on September 19, the Federation is experiencing a political firestorm never seen before in the last decade and a half.
Prime Minister Douglas has been accused by Members of the Opposition of subverting democracy and dilly-dallying over the tabling of the Motion of No Confidence, which they claimed his government would lose.
Dr. Douglas has no intention of having it tabled and has since started his party machinery in “full confidence” campaigning around the country in hope of an impending election.
Yesterday (Sept. 9), Parliament met after a long recess, but this time the main act was to table and debate the Draft Proclamation to realign the constituency boundaries prepared by the Constituency Boundaries Commission. The government’s side were the only ones to approve the proposed changes; the Opposition does not support the proposed changes to the boundaries and has levelled accusation against the Prime Minister that he is trying to “gerrymander” the boundaries to give him an unfair advantage whenever the elections are called.
They have said that because of a shift in the geopolitics and the government’s plummeting popularity, the Prime Minister is intent on winning the elections through disadvantaging his political opponents through realignment of the boundaries. They have also denounced the Prime Minister for attempting to realign the constituency boundaries when his government is faced with two Motions of No Confidence and is not supported by the majority of elected members of Parliament.
Four opposition Members of Parliament have filed a court injunction to restrain the Governor General, Sir Edmund Lawrence, from signing the Draft Proclamation for proposed constituency boundaries changes, using as their argument that the process to arrive at the proposed changes was unfair and disadvantageous to them.
Leader of the People’s Labour Party (PLP), Dr. Timothy Harris, Deputy Premier of Nevis and Deputy Leader of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), Mark Brantley, Deputy Leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM) Eugene Hamilton and the Leader of the PAM, Shawn Richards, are seeking to have a judicial review of the process used to prepare the Draft Proclamation of the Constituency Boundary Commission’s Report.
Dr. Harris said it is “highly irresponsible” of the Prime Minister to continue to ignore the Motion of No Confidence.
He said Dr. Douglas was “setting the bounds for instability in this country” when he sought “to arrogate onto himself the right to change the boundaries at this time when he does not command the support of the majority of MPs”.
PM Douglas has repeatedly said that the constituency boundaries are “illegal” and that they need reviewing and realignment because of gross disparities in terms of number of inhabitants.
The constituency boundaries have not been realigned since the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party came to power in 1995. They have won the elections four times on the existing boundaries.
In 2009, Dr. Douglas attempted to realign the boundaries on what was called the “eve of an election” and was met with the challenge of an injunction that saw a lengthy court battle which resulted in Justice Francis Belle recusing himself from the case, a contempt of court charge against then Attorney General Dennis Merchant and the presiding judge referring to Prime Minister Douglas as “a stranger to the truth”.
Eventually, the Court ruled that the elections would have to be fought on the old boundaries. The government won the elections in January of 2010 with 70 percent of the votes.
As the drama unfolds, the abusive ad hominem is heating up with Dr. Douglas referring to his former senior minister, Dr. Timothy Harris, who he fired in January of this year, as a “flip-flop”, “a pan-cake” and a “traitor”, among many other names.
Dr. Douglas said that both Dr. Harris and Sam Condor, who resigned after the firing of Dr. Harris, over what he said was serious differences between himself and Dr. Douglas with respect to “good governance and constitutional integrity”, are ingrates.
Both Condor and Harris have said that the Debt for Land Swap legislation was the straw that broke the camel’s back in what was already a tenuous relationship between them and their boss.
They have accused Dr. Douglas of being dictatorial in his leadership style and blamed him for “fiscal recklessness” that has resulted in the country being under an austerity programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It now appears that there will be another lengthy court battle over the proposed changes to the constituency boundaries like what took place in 2009. Prime Minister Douglas, though, feels that he could not be accused of trying to change the boundaries on “the eve of an election” as the general elections are constitutionally due in 2015.
“I believe that no one can accuse the government of being irresponsible. The government has ensured that we do not fall into the pitfalls that surrounded this matter in 2009…I believe that the accusations that were levelled at the feet of the government for attempting to realign the boundaries when it was too late and too close to an election, that kind of criticism will not hold water this time,” Dr. Douglas said.
The saga continues…
