St Kitts and Nevis opposition 'encourage walk to parliament'

Supporters of the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) are being encouraged to walk to Wednesday’s sitting of the National Assembly, the party's leader announced last night.

The opposition is unhappy with the response from Speaker Michael Perkins to their comments about the suspension of Konris Maynard.

Leader Denzil Douglas told an audience that although Maynard, in a letter to the speaker, provided evidence from the minutes of the National Assembly that he was never suspended previously for five days, Speaker Perkins in his response “has been instructed by government not to allow us to speak on behalf of you the people who sent us to the parliament of our country.”

He said a number of decisions have been made to bring the matter to the attention of the Speaker and the people of our country.

“We have walked out of the parliament. We held several press conferences after we walked out. We have written several letters to the Speaker," said Douglas.

"We have filed a motion of no confidence in the Speaker. We have asked for meetings with the Speaker and he has met with us and he has told us we are wasting our time, because ‘everything I do I am right. We have written to the governor-general.

"We have written to institutions at home and overseas to draw to their attention what is happening to us here in our parliament as parliamentarians. He has not heeded our actions.

He added that his party and supporters "have had enough of this nonsense where the elected representatives of the people have been prevented from speaking on your behalf in our parliament.

Wednesday’s meeting of the National Assembly begins at 12pm and supporters have been requested to assemble at Masses House to walk to the house with their elected representatives.

There has been no response from the government.