CPA President highlights role of the Opposition in strengthening Parliamentary democracy

Published 27 May 2017

CPA President highlights role of the Opposition in strengthening Parliamentary democracy

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 27^th 2017 – As the opposition in St. Kitts and Nevis accuses the Speaker of the St. Kitts and Nevis Hon. Michael Perkins of “stifling democracy” in the lawmaking body, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association has been highlighting the role of the Opposition in strengthening parliamentary democracy.

The CPA President and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Executive Committee, Hon. Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP, Speaker of the Parliament of  Bangladesh emphasised that if the Opposition plays a constructive and responsible role in the democratic process then the accountability of the government can be ensured.

The Chairperson was speaking as the chief guest at the CPA Roadshow for Young People on Parliamentary Democracy held at the North Plaza of the Bangladesh Parliament and hosted by the CPA Bangladesh Branch.

The CPA Chairperson said that the CPA Roadshows for Young People play a vital role in educating the youth of society about the parliamentary system of government and that she believes that the future leadership of the country lies with the youth.

In this respect, the CPA Chairperson added that the CPA Roadshows and other outreach programmes based on the concept of the three Ds = Democracy, Development and Diversity is progressing. Of the 2.4 billon total population of the Commonwealth, about 60% are youth aged under 30 and in order to face the challenges of the future, there is no alternative but to engage and involve the youth of society in all spheres of development.

The CPA Chairperson stressed the need for enriching the youth with the knowledge of democracy and the parliamentary system of government through programmes like the CPA Roadshows, which so far has reached nearly 9,000 students in schools, colleges and universities across seven of the nine regions of the CPA.

The opposition senator has labelled the Speaker of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly “a rogue Speaker” and accused Speaker Michael Perkins of refusing to include opposition members on the organising committee for a meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in St. Kitts and Nevis next month.

 “We believe he is more of a political activist rather than an impartial judge,” said Labour Party Sen. Hon. Nigel Carty. He disclosed that complaints against Speaker Perkins will be raised at an upcoming CPA Meeting for the Atlantic and Caribbean to be held in St. Kitts and Nevis from June 16 to 23.

 “We would want to raise the issue of his conduct in the Parliament. We would want to raise the issue that the opposition after cataloguing a series of offences of poor judgement, of partiality, having placed a Motion of No Confidence against the Speaker and he sat in the (Speaker’s) Chair at a Sitting of the National Assembly and determined that there was no case against him and he was going to dismiss the motion,” Carty told WINNFM.

Carty also raised the issue of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) pointing out that after nearly two and a half years of continuous agitation inside and outside of Parliament, the Prime Minister has found the time just three weeks before the CPA Conference to indicate he is ready to appoint the Public Accounts Committee.

Mr. Carty said the Denzil Douglas-led St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) appointed the last Public Accounts Committee, Member for Nevis 9 and then Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Mark Brantley as Chairman of the PAC.

Carty, a former minister of education, information and agriculture said he has reliable information that in response to sound advice from another parliamentary speaker, Mr. Perkins refused to include opposition parliamentarians on the Organising Committee for the upcoming Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Meeting.

“This is a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting not a St. Kitts and Nevis government meeting,” said Sen. Carty.

In the 2015 general elections the SKNLP, led by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, remained the largest single party in St. Kitts and Nevis, gaining 11,897 votes to the Hon. Shawn Richards’ People’s Action Movement (PAM), 8,452, the Hon. Vance Amory’s Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) 3, 951 votes; the Hon. Joseph Parry’s (Nevis Reformation Party (NRP), 3,276 votes and Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP), 2,723.

 The CPA President and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Executive Committee, Hon. Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP, Speaker of the Parliament of  Bangladesh