Minister Hamilton: Opposition members’ behaviour in national assembly deliberate and calculated
(Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Leader of Government Business, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton, is of the view that the members on the Opposition benches are deliberately creating situations in the National Assembly that they can later use to fuel their unfounded public campaign against the Speaker of the House, the Honourable A. Michael Perkins.
Minister Hamilton made this point during Tuesday’s sitting of the National Assembly shortly after Opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Christopher Three, the Honourable Konris Maynard was named and immediately suspended from the House for ten days.
The Opposition MP was suspended for dishonourable conduct after being chastised by the Speaker, Honourable Michael Perkins, for being in violation of the Standing Orders.
In rising to move the motion to name MP Maynard, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton said, “Mr. Speaker, I am satisfied that there is a deliberate attempt by the members of the Opposition to create in this House a situation for them to cause you to rule to continue their discourse on public radio, disparaging the conduct of this House and the Speaker of this House. I trust Mr. Speaker that the records will so record fully in the minutes that they have been so named.”
This is the second time that MP Maynard has been named by Speaker Perkins for disrespectful behaviour, and the third time that he was asked to withdraw from the Parliament. On May 23, 2017, he was asked to withdraw and on July 11, 2017, he was named and suspended for five days. MP Maynard will have to sit out of the next Parliamentary Sitting, which takes place on Wednesday, February 21.
The Honourable Speaker of the House also took notice of the Opposition members’ pattern, labelling their actions as “calculated.”
“I completely agree with the Leader of Government Business that I see this behaviour as calculated to bring this House into disrepute,” Speaker Perkins said, adding that he is satisfied with his ruling to name and suspend MP Maynard.
Leader of the Opposition in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas was named and subsequently suspended from the House for five days at the first sitting of the National Assembly for 2018 on January 23.