BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - TWO citizens of St. Christopher and Nevis have approached the Court to make certain declarations regarding more than 100 non-national students of offshore universities who are allegedly registered to vote in the twin-island Federation.
The two men - accompanied by their lawyer Jonel Powell - went to the Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore Judicial and Legal Services sometime after 3:15 yesterday (Jan. 13) afternoon to file the claim.
In an interview with this publication, Powell explained his clients’ case.
“...We are asking the Court to make certain declarations in relation to the status of students registered with offshore universities and are registered to vote in St. Kitts and Nevis, because we believe they are not legally registered and that they should not be able to register on the basis that they are not resident in St. Kitts and Nevis despite the fact they are from a Commonwealth country. We believe they don’t satisfy the residency requirement to be registered to vote here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Commenting on the legal basis for the claim, Powell explained that, according to the Immigration Act, the students whom they claim are illegally registered do not satisfy any of the residency criteria outlined in the Act.
“They don’t fall under any of the four categories of residency that are stipulated in the Immigration Act. They are referred to as permitted entrants for the sole purpose of studying and we are saying, at the end of the day, they don’t call here home. They graduate and they go back to wherever they come from.”
He said according to the information he has acquired, these students are registered across at least four constituencies.
With the claim filed, the lawyer said they now await a date to be set for the matter to be dealt with, and it is hoped that it could be done expeditiously.
“We hope that the Court would be in a position to deal with this urgently as registration is an ongoing matter, and as everybody knows there is a Motion of No Confidence before the Parliament and everybody is in election mode and elections could be called at any time.”
