Friday’s emergency sitting was held to debate and pass the Resolution of the National Assembly made under section 19(3) of the Saint Christopher and Nevis 1983 Constitution Order. The Resolution in essence sought to extend the state of emergency in St. Kitts and Nevis for a period of time not more than six months.
The Resolution received the support of two-thirds majority of the Honourable House and was subsequently passed after 8:00pm.
While members on the Government benches viewed the resolution as one that is necessary for the continued protection of human life during the COVID-19 pandemic, Opposition MPs failed to show concern for the safety of ordinary citizens and residents who are or may be impacted by the deadly disease but instead used their allotted time in Parliament to promote their own partisan political agenda.
Describing the actions of the Opposition MPs as disappointing and laughable, Attorney General the Honourable Vincent Byron stated that the resolution to extend the State of the Emergency has nothing to do with the dissolution of Parliament and the General Elections.
“We expected that we’ll come today on a natural calamity that is taking over the world—an infectious disease that is infecting people up and down, people getting sick and people dying…and [the Opposition] in here talking about they want 12 more months because they want to put off the elections. It does not matter Mr. Speaker which party is in government because COVID-19 is what our focus has to be,” the Attorney General said.
Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said Friday’s showing in the National Assembly proved that clearly the Opposition members do not understand the magnitude of the situation brought on by the COVID-19 disease.
“They told us Mr. Speaker that when we come to the Parliament to protect the health and to save lives with respect to the COVID Emergency Powers that we were attempting to subvert democratic processes. The very assumption on which they placed their argument was wrong, and therefore the determinations to which they had come to would also of necessity and logic be wrong,” said Prime Minister Harris.
Over the last 21 days, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has utilized the Emergency Powers Act and Emergency Powers (COVID-19) Regulations to ensure best practices geared towards protecting citizens and residents from the spread of the coronavirus.
This included the implementation of partial and 24-hour lock-downs, the promotion of social distancing guidelines and requirement for persons to wear protection masks when in public spaces, as well as limiting the number of persons that can travel on public transport at any single given time.
