BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, April 10, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ ranking in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2019 Report, released on February 28, 2019, is independent and objective evidence of the good governance agenda being vigorously pursued by the Team Unity Government.
St. Kitts and Nevis was ranked 30th out of 126 countries and jurisdictions worldwide based on more than 120,000 households and 3,800 expert surveys. This puts St. Kitts and Nevis number one in the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) and second only to Barbados (29th) in the CARICOM region.
The WJP Rule of Law Index measures countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors namely: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice.
“Within CARICOM, St. Kitts and Nevis ranked number 1 in constraints on government powers, order and security, and civil justice. We were ranked as number 16 in the world under civil justice. In the categories of fundamental rights and regulatory framework, we placed second. We are ranked number 1 in the OECS, the best performing Country on the Rule of Law and Good Governance,” said Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris during Tuesday’s press conference at the Parliamentary Lounge, Government Headquarters.
“The results on constraints on government powers mean that there is no authoritarian rule here as some would want us to believe,” Prime Minister Harris said, noting that these are excellent rankings coming from unbiased and independent entities.
The prime minister continued, “These objective rankings by internationally reputable entities belie the propaganda being pushed by those with a biased agenda that there is corruption and dictatorship in this our beloved democratic Country.”
Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris reiterated at Tuesday’s press conference that transparency, accountability, integrity and love for the people are at the center of Team Unity’s operations as an administration.
“Our transparent bidding process is evident. We transparently selected the entities to construct our second cruise pier, our road resurfacing projects, the Old Road Fisheries Project, the Tabernacle Health Centre and we can go on and on. This is the way Team Unity does business. We publicly declared who won these projects so that all could be in the sunshine of public accountability,” said Prime Minister Harris.
