BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) – Opposition supporters staged a silent protest outside the venue of a meeting of the Monetary Council of Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), urging delegates to call on Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas to call general elections in St Kitts and Nevis.
Dr Douglas, who is also finance minister, has joined his colleagues from the nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) for the 78th meeting of the Monetary Council that will also discuss the Governor’s Financial, Consolidation and Development Report as of September 2013, as well as the monetary and credit conditions in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU).
The meeting is being chaired by St Lucia’s Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony and the Monetary Council will also hold meetings with representatives of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and public service unions and associations of the ECCB member states.
The demonstrators holding up placards called on the finance ministers to urge Dr Douglas to accept the ruling of the High Court earlier this week that indicated it was prepared to hear a motion of no confidence filed against his government more than a year ago in the National Assembly.
Both the government and the opposition claimed victory following the court ruling on Wednesday.
Jean Condor, a supporter of the three-party opposition grouping, Team Unity, told WINN FM radio station that the time had come for the country to “stand up and speak up with regards to what is happening in this country which is totally unacceptable”.
She said the protest is to make the regional leaders understand that “what happens here can in fact impact upon them and they too must have no tolerance for that, they must speak out and we come to impress upon them that our people are hurting and we are asking them to do what is right”.
Yesterday, the six elected opposition legislators, wrote a letter to Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence informing him that Dr Douglas no longer has the support of the majority in the 11-member Chamber.
Leader of the main opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM), Shawn Richards, told reporters that “the courts have ruled and the people deserve action now.
“We ask that the Speaker bring the motion of no confidence before parliament, without delay. If he chooses not to, we will formally ask the Governor General to preserve the people’s democratic right to choose and to summon Parliament to hear the motion. It is within the purview of the Governor General so to do,” he said.
Prime Minister Douglas has said repeatedly that the parliament cannot debate the motion until the court gives a ruling.
