'MUZZLED': St Kitts-Nevis MP takes aim at Speaker after ejection from National Assembly

The youngest member of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly was ejected from parliament on Tuesday, leading him to accuse Speaker Michael Perkins of “stifling democracy”.

Konris Maynard, St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party MP for West Basseterre, was kicked out of the chamber for “gross disrespectful behaviour”, according to government’s information service.

The Speaker appears to have taken issue with the young MP remaining on his feet after being asked to sit while Prime Minister Timothy Harris was speaking.

Upon the dismissal of his parliamentary colleague, the leader of the opposition Denzil Douglas led his party out of the chamber in support of Maynard – the second time the opposition has protested against the Speaker in this way during 2017.

Speaking later that evening Maynard refused to back down, instead telling a radio interview that the Speaker was “aligned to the government” and had an agenda.

“For too long now, I feel that I do not have a voice in the parliament that I was sent to. I was not voted to be on the streets, or in the alleyways, speaking with my constituents,” he said on Kyss 102.5 FM last night.

“They want me to bring their issues to the house, to the parliament, where it matters, where we can make a change, where we can have an input in the national debate. I have been denied an opportunity many times.”

And Maynard, who is in his first term as St Christopher 3 representative, was particularly scathing about the Speaker’s conduct in a recent debate.

“I recall we were not even given an opportunity to contribute on an Income Tax (Amendment) Bill. Not a single word.”

‘Speaker is a puppet’

Maynard said he stands firm in his belief that Speaker Michael Perkins “is seemingly totally aligned to the government, to the point where he is stifling democracy in the place where it should be most evident.”

“Free speech is a right we have in our constitution. In the parliament, we are even given more leverage when it comes to free speech that it is even protected.

“But yet I am unable to exercise that free speech in parliament,” said Maynard, who explained he stood simply for an opportunity to ask a question on the delivery of the prime minister in the honourable house.

“The house is to remain honourable and if persons are misleading the house, I have a right to stand and ask for it to be corrected. You do that by standing and asking for a point of order or I was simply seeking clarity if the Speaker is not going to allow a point of order.

“This is a disgrace and the Speaker appears to anybody looking on, to be a puppet of somebody or with an agenda. That is unfortunate in our modern day democracy and we cannot stand for it. And I certainly will not stand for it as long as it is in the rules of the parliament.

“We have a right, a fundamental right to speak in the parliament where the people’s issues need to be debated. This Speaker, whether he is directed, whether it is him, he obviously has an agenda to keep the opposition silent, but we will not be silent.”

No confidence?

WIC News understands that members of the opposition later asked for a private meeting with the Speaker to resolve the issues.

In December 2016, the opposition filed a motion of no confidence, accusing Perkins of “exercising partiality in decisions against its members, unprecedented and unmerited rulings and continually breaching parliamentary rules”.

This was rejected in January 2017 – a move which sparked Denzil Douglas and the opposition to walk out of the chamber in protest.

WIC News has reached out to the government for a comment.