Opposition lawmakers in St. Kitts write to Eustace about political impasse

Opposition lawmakers in St. Kitts and Nevis have written to Leader of the Opposition in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Arnhim Eustace, amidst the refusal of the Government in Basseterre to have a motion of no confidence debated in that country’s parliament.

The motion was tabled last December, and Eustace on Saturday called on the Dr. Denzil Douglas government to proceed with its debate.

He further said on Tuesday that he had received a letter signed by the opposition MPs regarding the political impasse in that country.

Eustace said also that he discussed the situation with his Kittitian counterpart, Mark Brantley.

“I just had a very long conversation with the opposition leader in St. Kitts on this matter because they can’t get anywhere, because every way they go, some blockage is put in place.

“But they have six members and the government has five in the parliament. So we have to watch our rights. We have to watch our democratic rights at all times. You never know the extent to which people will go,” Eustace said.

He further said that when the Parliament in Basseterre resumed, the motion was not debated even as the electoral boundaries were changed.

He noted that six lawmakers who support the motion include Dr. Timothy Harris, a former minister of foreign affairs under the Douglas government, and Sam Condor, the former deputy prime minister to Douglas.

Harris and Condor have joined the opposition benches and have formed their own political party,

the People’s Labour Party.

“So, effectively, the majority of the elected members of parliamentarians are in support of the no confidence motion, which will mean that if it is heard, the government would have to go,” Eustace said.

“We are dealing here with issues of rights and democracy and so on. And that is what this is about too — about parliamentary democracy and people using all sorts of tactics to prevent it from functioning in the way it is designed to function,” he said at New Democratic Party protest rally.

The rally was in support of embattled NDP senator, Vynnette Frederick, who is facing nine criminal charges, which the Opposition says are politically motivated.

Eustace said the same situation as in St. Kitts and Nevis occurred in Grenada and that Vincentians do not want such developments.

“So we will continue protest on these matters. Once we give an ease on democratic rights, they are going to go further and further and further, as they are trying to do now in the case of Senator Frederick,” he said.

He further said that opposition lawmakers in Basseterre have written to regional leaders, including Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves about the situation.

“Nobody has said anything you know,” he said.

“And it is signed by the same six people, but he (Gonsalves) has said not a word about that, because that will affect his friend, Prime Minister Douglas,” Eustace further said.

“It can happen to us one day. And this comes at a time when the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) has just formed its own parliament and this is a member country of the OECS,” Eustace said.