Basseterre, St. Kitts (SKNIS): Since assuming office in August 2022, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through its Federal Parliament, has drafted, tabled and passed a total of 23 bills, in keeping with the government’s thrust to further strengthen the Federation’s good governance agenda.
At a National Town Hall meeting organized by the Federal Cabinet on Tuesday, August 01, as part of the activities to commemorate the first anniversary of St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party Administration, Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, the Honourable Garth Wilkin highlighted several of the laws that were deemed extremely important.
“We are very proud to amend the Domestic Violence Act so that women and men who are subject to domestic violence have easier access to protection orders. We did that very early on and we are very proud of that legislation,” said AG Wilkin.
Improvements were also seen in the financial sector over the past year.
“We are extremely proud of the changes we made to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank legislation, as well as creating the [African Export-Import Bank] (Afreximbank) Agreement Act, which allows our country to access 1.5 billion dollars of capital that has been set aside to develop projects in energy, water and so forth,” said the Attorney-General. “We were last – when we met with the Central Bank Governor – in the [Organization of Eastern Caribbean Central States] OECS in terms of enacting legislation and now we are heading for first.”
Attorney-General Wilkin said that the government has always focused on ensuring that the Federation’s good governance agenda is strengthened.
“The good governance legislation is something that has been very important; this was a message that was given out on the campaign trail,” said AG Wilkin. “We are proud that we have made it a reality and we have stamped our mark in ensuring that we eradicate corruption from our society by the passage of the Anti-Corruption Act, the amendments to the Integrity in Public Life Act, as well as the Freedom of Information Act.”
Passed bills highlighted include but are not limited to the Rastafari Rights Recognition Bill, 2023, and the Freedom of Conscience (Cannabis) Bill, 2023, as well as amendments to the Drug Act, Criminal Records (Rehabilitation of Offenders), (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Smoking (Designated Area) Bill, 2023.