BASSETERE, ST KITTS:--- Leader of the Opposition, the Rt Hon Dr Denzil L. Douglas said Wednesday that the “sudden resignation” of the Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Franklin Brand, a few days before completing one full year in office , has raised several questions.
Dr Douglas, who on Wednesday (May 18th) informed the nation of the Speaker’s resignation which was confirmed less than 24 hours later in a statement from Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, also wants to know how regional parliamentarians officially knew of the resignation, even before Cabinet ministers including the Leader of Government Business in the St Kitts and Nevis National Assembly.
“The reason that I gave as told by persons who knew, was that the Speaker was ‘sick and tired of the deception that has been practiced on him and others by Timothy Harris, the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis,” said Dr Douglas Wednesday afternoon on Freedom FM “Issues” programme.
“Subsequent to my confirmation the very next day the Government officially made a statement indicating that Hon Brand had really resigned and that the matter had become the subject of discussion in the Cabinet,” Dr. Douglas noted.
He told listeners that it was exceptionally strange for several reasons and that several questions must be asked of the Team Unity Government and its officials.
“Why is it that up to the time when the matter was brought to the public neither the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly (Hon. Eugene Hamilton), the Deputy Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis (Hon Shawn K Richards) and the Leader of the Opposition had not been officially informed?
Hamilton and Richards had told local edit houses they were not aware of the Speaker Brand’s resignation.
“Secondly, we understand that the resignation had been in the domain of the government since the 23rd day of April 2016 and so I asked again, why did Timothy Harris - not only intercepted it would appear that letter, (but) why did he not reveal it to the Members of Parliament and the citizens of this country before that Cabinet announcement was made last week Thursday.
The question also arises, was the Governor General (Sir S W Tapley Seaton) informed? We believe that this is a matter that His Excellency should have been informed about and up to this point, there is still no answer coming from Dr Harris,” said Dr Douglas, the former Prime Minister.
“Why I ask the citizens of this country and the government of St. Kitts and Nevis , did Mrs Heather Crooke, the Regional Secretary of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic Region) , make the announcement to the world before we here in St Kitts and Nevis were informed? Are we not important? Are we not citizens of this fair land equal to each other? Why should Timothy Harris hide critical information from the people of St Kitts and Nevis and why should he continue on this note about the Hon Franklin Brand being sick why he has retired,” said Dr Douglas.
He also questioned the statements from the Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister and the St Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS).
“You would believe that Franklin Brand is gravely ill. We the citizens of St Kitts and Nevis and as a Member of Parliament ask, is our speaker gravely ill, so ill that he could not continue to carry out the duties of his office after he would have recovered? Is it that there is no recovery from this mysterious illness as is been alluded to by the Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis” asked Dr Douglas.
“I am not asking the prime minister to tell us what the speaker is ill with, but people in this country are seeing the speaker walking about every day. They are seeing him in his business place and so we ask is this yet another case of deception on the part of the prime minister? Why we ask is Franklin Brand been made a scapegoat of the shenanigans and the working of a depraved mind of our prime minister? Why is Franklin Brand made the scapegoat? Do you understand what this is doing to his family,” asked Dr Douglas, who referred listeners to one of the press releases from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ms Valencia Grant.
“You would have thought that Mr Brand is about to die as what we are reading here is an obituary or his eulogy. It is dated May 15th 2016. When Prime Minister Harris can use expressions like ‘approximately one year to the day the prime minister said he has only one regret about Mr Brand’s tenure as Speaker and that is that it had to be cut short due to health reasons. It sounds as if our Speaker is about to die. I don’t think that he is about to die,” stated Dr Douglas.
“I don’t think that he is about to die. This is deception on the part of the prime minister,” said Dr Douglas.
