St. Vincentian PM says Condor and Harris should resign seats, states PLP/PAM/CCM concoction “a prisoner of its own tactic”
Basseterre, St. Kitts (CUOPM) – The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves is of the view that the PLP/PAM/CCM concoction is a prisoner of its own tactic when it took the matter of the Motion of No Confidence to the High Court.
Prime Minister Gonsalves told WINNFM that the opposition PLP/PAM/CCM alliance should never have taken the matter to court and has become a prisoner of its own tactics.
Dr. Gonsalves, the current CARICOM chairman, expressed his views on the matter on Winn FM’s The Bigger Picture.
“We have had commentaries on it. I have written a letter outlining the position, and I made the point in that case that the length of time where you have a vote, the motion of no confidence, it creates an unease, it’s a long time,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said.
However he went on to criticize the opposition for seeking a judicial ruling on the matter.
“They decided to put the matter in the courts. Once you go there, the court has its own time table its own scheduling … the opposition in St. Kitts has become a prisoner of its own tactics,” Dr. Gonsalves argued.
Dr. Gonsalves contends that High Court Judge Darshan Ramdhani’s ruling that there is no impediment to the motion of no confidence being tabled is not the final judgment on the matter.
He is also argues that former senior government ministers Dr. Timothy Harris and Sam Condor who defected from the party, should resign and seek a fresh mandate, even though there is no such stipulation in the constitution.
In another recent interview the Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Right Hon. Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said there are no human rights issues at stake in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“There is no break-down of law and order and the internal mechanisms of the state – the democratic institutions (to deal with the issue of the Motion of No Confidence) are at work, including the Office of the Governor General, the Office of the Speaker and the Law Courts. Those are the unvarnished facts,” said Dr. Gonsalves.
“If the Leader of Team Unity, my friend Timothy Harris and I am speaking here now, because I have been his friend. He came to St. Vincent and he didn’t ask whether he can speak to the Chairman of CARICOM, he chose to go and speak to the Leader of the Opposition of party which had lost the last three general elections.
Well, if he wants to associate with political failure and he wants to succeed in that context, I would have thought that if he wants to have the image of success, then associate with people who have been successful; not go to those who have failed, again confirming to me that men are not yet ready for ‘test cricket.’
So if you are not yet ready for ‘test cricket’ then why do you want me to catapult you into a test cricket match position?,” asked Prime Minister Gonsalves.
The National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis – a unicameral legislature – continues to meet with the Government having eight (8) parliamentarians on the Government Benches and seven (7) parliamentarians on the Opposition Benches.
The Opposition parliamentarians have abandoned their legislative duties and only briefly attend the third consecutive sitting of the lawmaking body to secure their Federal salaries and avoid their seats being declared vacant.
Recent laws passed include the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Act, 2013, The Integrity in Public Life Ordinance, 2013; The Evidence (Amendment Act), 2013; The Saint Christopher and Nevis (Mutual Exchange of Information on Taxation Matters (Amendment) Act, 2013; The Procurement and Contract (Administration) (Amendment) Act, 2013; The National Emblems and National Anthem Act, 2013; The Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Act, 2013; The Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2013 and The Integrity in Public Life Act, 2013.