BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, November 8, 2017 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The Team Unity Coalition was on Tuesday, 7th November 2017 vindicated in the five-year-old “Motion of No Confidence cases” when Her Ladyship the Honourable Justice Pearletta Lanns handed down her decision in favour of the claimants.
In the “Motion of No Confidence cases” of Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris vs. Hon. Curtis Martin, et al. and Hon. Mark Brantley, et al. vs. Hon. Curtis Martin, et al., Justice Lanns ruled that the constitutional rights of the Parliamentarians were infringed upon by the then-Speaker of the House through his refusal to allow debate on the Motion of No Confidence.
The two civil cases, which considered the same issues, stemmed from December 11th, 2012 when then-Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Mark Brantley, lodged with the Clerk of the National Assembly a Motion of No Confidence in the Douglas-led administration.
Honourable Brantley and his Team Unity colleagues, who were also at the time members of the Federal Opposition, requested that the Motion of No Confidence be placed on the Order Paper so that it could be debated in the Parliament. Their requests were ignored by then-Speaker of the House, the Honourable Curtis Martin, which resulted in the claimants bringing the Motion of No Confidence cases before the St. Kitts Circuit.
For more than two years prior to the 2015 General elections, the Motion of No Confidence was never tabled, which deprived the Parliamentarians of the opportunity to debate and vote on it in the Federal Parliament.
Mr. Douglas Mendes S.C. of Trinidad was Lead Counsel for the Claimants and Mr. Anthony Astaphan S.C. of Dominica was Counsel for the former Speaker of the National Assembly, while Solicitor General, Mrs. Simone Bullen-Thompson, represented the Office of the Attorney General.
