Published 11 September 2018
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS GOVERNMENT TO BRING DEBTORS’ JAIL LEGISLATION IN OCTOBER
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, September 11, 2018 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is expected to bring the necessary documents to the National Assembly in October, as his administration seeks to enact its own legislation that will bring about an end to the outdated debtor’s jail system.
The decision by the Team Unity administration to take the necessary steps to end the practice of incarcerating individuals for their failure to pay a debt was welcomed by a number of callers to Monday (September 10) night’s edition of “Straight Talk” with host the Honourable Ian Patches Liburd on WINNFM 98.9, of which Prime Minister Harris was the special guest.
“What we have now is an unfair relationship where persons are lending and when there is a default, the penalty—and in this case the penalty of incarceration—is unfairly being borne by the borrower,” Dr. Harris said. “We are saying again for the record that the lender must take responsibility and one of the things that we have done recently, in fact the Bill that we passed last week in Parliament, the Credit Reporting Bill, was aimed at establishing institutional and other mechanisms that would help lenders make better judgments—judgments as to the credit worthiness of those who come to borrow.”
In his argument against the notion that the fear of imprisonment will motivate borrowers to pay, Prime Minister Harris said, “When you are in prison you can’t earn but the problem is the debt still remains; the problem is you lose your freedom, you lose your reputation although you would not have committed what one may consider strictly a crime or a breach of some criminal offence, you end up nonetheless being treated as a common criminal being thrown in jail.”
The St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister further noted that his Team Unity administration will examine successful statutes throughout the region and further afield as it seeks to rectify what the honourable prime minister termed an “injustice” and to provide for a more modern and equitable response.
“We will look at best practices. I mentioned Trinidad but Bahamas has also moved with respect to the debtor’s prison and so has Barbados, so the office of the Attorney General will be looking at these to find the correct leveling if you will for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Dr. Harris insisted that there is nothing in the law of the land that prevents the lenders or creditors from seeking alternatives to prison. The prime minister, however, cautioned individuals to make wise financial decisions and also stressed that what his administration is attempting to do “is not intended to make people irresponsible.”
Prime Minister Harris said obviously there will be certain exceptions to the general rule where the Government will allow a debtor to be lawfully imprisoned. These circumstances may include breach of various fraudulent offences, breach of fiduciary duties, theft and family law and support child maintenance breaches.
