Opposition boycotts Parliament

Basseterre, St Kitts.

Opposition  Members of Parliament today boycotted the presentation of the national budget insisting that the long tabled vote of no confidence in the Dr. Denzil Douglas administration be debated.

“We the majority of Elected Representatives in the National Assembly of St. Kitts and Nevis will not participate in the debate of the 2013 Budget," the six opposition legislators, including former deputy prime minister Sam Condor and senior minister Dr. Timothy Harris said in a statement.

Last week, a High Court judge set April 18 as the date for hearing arguments from lawyers representing the Speaker, Prime Minister Dr. Douglas and members of his Cabinet, after  the opposition legislators filed a motion seeking to block the government from conducting any business in the National Assembly other than the national budget.

The six opposition legislators had earlier this year written to Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence declaring that they had lost confidence in Prime Minister Douglas and his government.  

According to the statement : "The opposition legislators have scheduled a news conference this evening to further sensitise the people of this country to the continuing threat to democracy posed by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Denzil Douglas, and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Curtis Martin, who have done everything to prevent the Motion of No Confidence in the government from coming to the floor of the National Assembly for debate”.