Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 29, 2015 (SKNIS): Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, has taken the members of the Opposition to task for unparliamentary behaviour during the recent special sitting of the National Assembly on the 2016 Budget Debate.
Speaking during his Budget Rebuttal, Prime Minister Harris said that the behaviour of the Opposition was nothing short of reprehensible.
“As the country listened to the debate, the people became more convinced that the Opposition is unfit for return to high office and I know that the next election the people will vote those maladjusted members of the Opposition out of the Parliament.”
Prime Minister Harris contended that even ardent supporters of the St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) were aggrieved by the wanton disregard of parliamentary principles and norms displayed by the Opposition.
According to Prime Minister Harris, “A once strong Labour stalwart from St Pauls remarked that “even in the days of Lee Moore in Opposition such debasement and disrespect for Parliament was never shown. Even in the days of Charles Mills, such disagreeable and rancorous conduct had never been witnessed in this House.”
Prime Minister Harris lamented the actions of those who sit on the Opposition Benches.
“They refuse to sit when asked to. They react with aggression when there is no need,” he said. Using the saying “All froth and no mauby” that has been commonly used by the member for number 2, the prime minister said that the Opposition’s contribution on the budget debate was vacuous.
In addition, Prime Minister Harris said that “They were uncooperative in their approach to the Deputy Speaker; they refused to take his ruling in the strides they ought to. They stood while he spoke to them.”
Speaking specifically about the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister Harris said that “In the best of times, we had Malcolm Guishard, Hugh Heyliger and Mark Brantley, as Leaders of the Opposition, neither of whom would have stooped so low in the quagmire of dirt, “picong” and irrelevance in the Parliament as the member for number 6. What is wrong with this member?”
In regard to the other members of the Opposition, Prime Minister Harris noted that “people are asking what is wrong with the Senator? What is wrong with the Opposition? Do they think they are still in power?”
Prime Minister Harris asserted that “they came to Parliament with no intention to be constructive and contrary to the rule which requires them to stick to the substance of the debate, they were trivial, off track, miserable and reckless in their abandon of the truth.