Anticipation mounts for first meeting of Parliament under NDP

By Kenton X. Chance

Anticipation is high for the opening of Parliament under the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration, which was elected on Nov. 27.

Constitutionally, that meeting of Parliament must take place 30 days after the return of the election writs.

Two independent sources have told iWitness News that the national assembly is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Dec. 23 – five days before the deadline.

Anticipation for this meeting of Parliament is high for several reasons, including whether Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves would attend and who he would name as the two opposition senators.

Gonsalves was the only candidate for the incumbent Unity Labour Party (ULP) left standing after the Nov. 27 polls.

Voters rejected all of the other candidates, eight of whom were seeking re-election to Parliament.

The opposition leader said at a press conference in Kingstown on Dec. 10 that he had “under prayerful consideration” his decision regarding whether he will attend the opening of the new Parliament.

“… whether or not I will attend on the first day, which is entirely formal, where you just do the oath of allegiance, that oath of allegiance can be done on that day, can be done on any subsequent day,” said Gonsalves, who has been representing North Central Windward since 1994.

“I have it under prayerful consideration as to whether I will take my oath of allegiance on that day or another day. But I am the leader of the opposition appointed by the Governor General under the Constitution, and that time runs from December the first,” he said.

Another point of interest is that the House of Assembly could have a new clerk and deputy clerk, as the High Court on Dec. 4 quashed the 2023 appointments of Debra Alexander-Charles and Simone Williams-Huggins to those posts.

Celena McDonald was overlooked for the post when the former clerk, Nicole Herbert, retired and the deputy clerk, Sharon Nash, died.

McDonald then brought a lawsuit, sponsored by the Public Service Union, against the Public Service Commission (PSC), challenging the appointment.

In her ruling, High Court judge Justice Cybelle Cenac-Dantes held that the appointments of Alexander-Charles and Williams-Huggins were, inter alia, unlawful, unreasonable, and procedurally improper.

A source close to the government noted to iWitness News on Tuesday that the appointment of a clerk and deputy clerk is a matter for the Public Service Commission.

They, however, noted that Parliament cannot meet without a clerk, adding that that would be sorted before Tuesday’s meeting of the national assembly.

Political observers are also anxious to see who the NDP will appoint to its two remaining senate seats, as well as who it will nominate for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.

The NDP has appointed Chieftain Neptune, who was its candidate for North Central Windward and the only of the party’s 15 candidates to fail in their election bid, as a senator and junior minister in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Lavern King, the party’s public relations officer, has been appointed a senator and junior minister of education, vocational training and innovation, digital transformation and information.

Social media has been rife with speculations that Vynnette Frederick, a former NDP senator and PRO, would be appointed as speaker of the House of Assembly.

However, one source told iWitness News that the speculation was fuelled by people hoping for a combative Parliament. The source, however, said this is not Prime Minister’s Friday style.

Analysts are watching to see whether the two opposition senators will come from among the 14 candidates who failed in their election bids.

Camillo Gonsalves, the former minister of finance who was seeking a third term in office as MP for East St. George, has signalled that he will not seek to be the candidate in that constituency again.

The 53-year-old former finance minister, who is also the opposition leader’s son, had long been identified as his father’s heir apparent.

However, political observers have said that the older Gonsalves could not get the party to coalesce around his son, as a significant faction favoured Saboto Caesar, the former agriculture minister and South Central Windward MP, who the electorate also rejected after three terms.

In his concession speech on election night, Camillo Gonsalves suggested that he would not seek re-election as MP for East St. George.

“Tonight, in addition to congratulating Mrs. Gibson Velox, I extend my deepest apologies to the comrades of East St. George. This seat has long been a bastion of Labour. I believe it will once again return to the fold, and soon, under the leadership of a fresh standard bearer,” he said of the seat that Labour had held since 1998.

In a similar speech the following day, Caesar, 45, said: “Today is not the closing of a chapter. It is the start of a new one. … It is time for us to regroup, it is time for us to rebuild …”

Caesar has already returned to his law practice, which he left 17 years ago when he entered politics as a senator, two years before he was elected as a parliamentary representative.

Besides Caesar and Camillo Gonsalves, the ULP had fielded four other lawyers who were rejected by the electorate: Luke Browne, Carlos James, Keisal Peters and Grenville Williams.

Two of the candidates — Chevonne Stewart and Grace Walters — are public servants and could return to the Public Service.

Curtis King and Jimmy Prince entered politics after retiring from the public service.

Carlos William is a businessman and Marvin Fraser is an IT specialist. Rodan John had been pursuing a doctorate on a scholarship in Taiwan before entering politics.

Orando Brewster, who was voted out as Central Leeward MP after one term, entered politics in 2020, the same year that he completed his degree in medicine but did not complete his residency, which means that he cannot practice.

At his Dec. 10 press conference, the opposition leader said the media might have expected him to announce the names of the opposition senators.

“I’m not yet doing that. I’m continuing my consultations,” Gonsalves said, adding that the ULP has “some wide choices …

“I want to choose individuals where I could also balance activity, which individuals may be engaging in in a private capacity, and whether for them to engage in something, particularly in a private capacity at this stage is consistent with them being involved in Parliament. And some of those things, I’m awaiting clarification; some of those, I’m awaiting finalisation,” the opposition leader said.

For his part, the prime minister has been largely silent on parliamentary and other national matters. On Dec. 10, Senator King said that the prime minister would hold a press conference “soon”. However, this has not taken place.

On Friday, the prime minister walked around Kingstown and interacted with people, saying he had been doing so, particularly after becoming opposition leader in 2016.