A prominent Kittitian has labelled as “gross incompetence” and “cannot be an act of good governance” the actions by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Michael Perkins, during Tuesday’s sitting of the lawmaking body.
“…in St. Kitts and Nevis, a democratically-elected parliamentarian and Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is suspended for a full session of the House because he did not fall over his feet to get out of the Assembly room on the request of the Speaker of the House, it does boggle the mind,” said former United Nations economist, Mrs. Willa Liburd.
“I believe we saw today, Tuesday 23rd January 2018, an act of gross incompetence, if not worse, on the part of the Speaker of the Honourable House of Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis. I am however happy that up to now, St. Kitts & Nevis continues to be a democratic country where freedom of speech and expression is constitutionally protected and therefore as a citizen of this country I am free to express my views here. This is what I saw and heard on live television today,” said former United Nations economist, Mrs. Willa Franks.
Responding directly to a news release from the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), Mrs. Liburd wrote:
“The Speaker of the House in his introductory remarks at the opening of the current session of Parliament, under an item dealing with “statements”, spoke about two persons who he said had accosted him verbally in public. He referred to their status in the community and gave details of what he claimed they had said. He added that although as adults they were responsible for what they had said to him, he attributed it in part to behaviour of members of the House during parliamentary sessions. At some point in the proceedings, the Leader of the Opposition, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, rose to speak under the same item and said that just before entering the parliament today, he was approached by a reporter who questioned him about his continuing status as a member of parliament. Dr. Douglas stated that he said to the reporter that not only was he a member of parliament, but he had no plans to resign.
Dr. Douglas elaborated on this question of his status as a member of the Honourable House of St. Kitts and Nevis and suggested that there were nefarious plans afoot to get him out, but that he was first elected to parliament decades ago (stating the year) and had been re-elected at every general election since then, had served the country for 20 years as Prime Minister, would continue to serve the constituency that had elected him and that he had no plans to resign as a parliamentarian.
At some point in the discourse, the Speaker of the House indicated that Dr. Douglas had gone beyond the limits of what he was allowed to say. Dr. Douglas responded that he had not quite finished. After some back and forth between himself and the Speaker, the Speaker indicated that Dr. Douglas should take his seat and not say another word. There was some protest from Dr. Douglas, at which point the Speaker cited a ruling in the Standing Orders in regard to conduct of members in the House and ruled that Dr. Douglas should leave the House of Assembly for the rest of the day’s session. Dr. Douglas responded that he felt that the ruling was unfair, but started to gather his belongings together to leave. The Speaker repeated that he should leave, and Dr. Douglas continuing to gather his belongings told the Speaker that he was leaving. Having gathered his belongings together he started to walk out. While leaving, the Speaker then cited another section of the Standing Orders giving him the authority to suspend Dr. Douglas from the House proceedings for five days.
Those five days to my mind would be the likely length of the current session. One got the impression that it was expected that Dr. Douglas would not leave, and that his leaving as requested, although not expected, made no difference in the ruling.
When I look at what goes on in parliaments around the world, including in Great Britain from whom we have adopted our parliamentary democratic system, where the Speaker has to tell members time and time again, “Order!”; when one observes some of the East Asian countries where they fist fight in parliament; when the whole world sees and hears the President of the United States, the leader of the presumed greatest democracy in the world, continuously make derogatory remarks about people, various ethnic and religious groups and countries; but in St. Kitts and Nevis, a democratically elected parliamentarian and Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is suspended for a full session of the House because he did not fall over his feet to get out of the Assembly room on the request of the Speaker of the House, it does boggle the mind.
Any intelligent person must conclude that this was an incompetent act on the part of the Speaker of the House and some may even think it was planned and contrived. This cannot in my mind be an act of good governance, but in fact the contrary.
St. Kitts and Nevis up to now and since the attempted coup in 1967 has remained a stable democracy. It has certainly experienced governance challenges by various administrations, but we have managed to “weather the storm”, literally and figuratively. As we approach our 35th year of Independence, I am praying that for the good of the country and its people, if we want to continue to have a stable, democratic and progressive country, the leadership in government would exercise greater wisdom and understanding than seems currently to be on display.