‘Let us head back to the polls’ – Dr Timothy Harris

Prime Minister and leader of the ruling St Kitts/Nevis Labour Party Dr Denzil Douglas says that his dismissed Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Timothy Harris should step down as representative of the constituency which elected him to Parliament.{{more}}

Douglas was speaking to local media on the opening day of the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting that took place at the Buccament Bay Resort on Monday, when he said that Harris should relinquish his seat and go back to the polls in the form of a by-election, if he wants to be prime minister.

“I want to make one point: when he went to the polls in the last elections, Timothy Harris was sitting on the government ticket…. He used the financial expenses of the party, he used the good name and the goodwill of the party, he campaigned extensively with the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party and got himself elected.

“Now that he has become elected on the Labour Party ticket and he wishes no longer to represent the people of St Kitts Nevis in that constituency on the Labour ticket, the right thing to do is to resign, and thus seek the support of the constituents in that constituency under a new ticket, as we saw happen recently in Trinidad and Tobago by Jack Warner.

“Let us go back to the polls and allow the people in that constituency to allow a competition to take place with Labour, with Harris and the Opposition People’s Action Movement, as it was in the last election; but he is afraid,” Douglas asserted.

The prime minister described as a “farce” the claim by Harris and the Opposition that the Opposition’s side Team Unity has the majority in Parliament.

According to Douglas, there is a clear majority on the government’s side in the Parliament, consisting of elected members and persons appointed as senators.

He dismissed the notion that there is a deadlock in the St Kitts Nevis Parliament.

“That is why the Parliament continues to meet; that is why the Parliament continues to pass laws on a regular basis that are being applied for the good governance of the country, and for the continued development of the people of St Kitts and Nevis.

“This farce about a majority on the Opposition side is really a farce…. There is no serious impasse here, except that there is a power hungry man called Timothy Harris who obviously wants to thwart what is the normal constitutional process of becoming a prime minister; that is all that there is,” said Douglas.

When asked if he sees a general election being called before the January – April 2015 constitutionally due date, Douglas said that court matters brought by the Opposition would hinder any thoughts of early elections.

“Elections will be called as soon as they are ready; the country is not yet ready for elections. As soon as the constitutional matters have been heard with regards to the court determining whether a Speaker can set the agenda for the Parliament that will determine the outcome….

“I give you the assurance, as soon as these constitutional and legal issues are worked out, the St Kitts Nevis Labour Party will go back to the polls and we will win for the fifth consecutive time, as it has done four times in the past.”

Harris, along with members of the New Democratic Party of St Vincent and the Grenadines staged a picket close to the site of the opening of the 25th Intersessional Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government on Monday.