BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO days after this media house had published the resignation of the Hon. Franklin Brand as Speaker of the National Assembly, a release from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary has brought closure to what some people believed was heresay.
The release, issued today (May 12) stated that the Federal Cabinet had announced that the Speaker had resigned due to health reasons.
“The Federal Cabinet has today announced with regret that the Hon. Franklin R. O. Brand, Speaker of the National Assembly, has resigned his post due to health reasons. It was noted by a Cabinet spokesperson that Mr. Brand had been facing health challenges for some time, which resulted in the proceedings of the National Assembly being chaired for some time by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Senator Michael Perkins.”
The release noted that in his comments on Brand’s departure, Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris indicated the loss would be impactful.
“History will record that it was the Hon. Franklin Brand who brought decorum, order, dignity and democracy back to our Parliament,” Dr. Harris reported said.
He noted that there has been a vast improvement in the conduct of the National Parliament compared to what was a poor excuse for the Honourable House under the previous Administration.
“One can recall that the previous Denzil Douglas-led regime brought our Parliament into disrepute, thereby making it the laughing stock of CARICOM. This, as we all know, resulted in our sinking to the lowest ebb in our history with the travesty that took place on January 16, 2015 regarding the hastily convened Parliament, simply to approve last-minute boundary changes in order to gain an electoral advantage for an incumbent Government that had fallen out of favour with the electorate of this Country.’’
The Federal Cabinet has noted that the election of a new Speaker would take place at the next sitting of the National Assembly, and members of that body have extended best wishes to Brand for a full recovery and thanked him for his services to the nation.
Since elected Speaker of the House, the businessman and past President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce had only sat through a Parliamentary Sitting on a couple of occasions.
He first occupied the vacated esteemed chair on Thursday, May 14, 2015 when the Federal Parliament was convened for the first time under the tri-party Team Unity Government after winning the February 2015 General Elections.
Reportedly, after sitting through the Prime Minister’s presentation and that of the Leader of the Opposition during last year’s Budget Debate, Speaker Brand had sought absence from the House and all other presentations were heard by his Deputy.
SKNVibes had subsequently learnt that he was overseas seeking medical treatment.
He was again absent at the last Sitting in April, but Deputy Speaker Perkins had presided over it.
This media house learned that Brand had resigned on Saturday, April 30, 2016.
