BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 26, 2023 (SKNIS) – Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew said the successful passage of the Nevis Island Administration (Civil Proceedings) Bill, 2023 and the Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the National Assembly on Thursday, May 25, 2023 signaled the start of a new day for the relationship between the Federal Government and the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) for the betterment of all the people of the Federation.
The two Bills were introduced and passed in Parliament after a series of consultations between officials from the Attorney General’s Office in St. Kitts and the Legal Department of the Premier’s Office in Nevis.
Making a brief contribution to the Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew said his administration remains committed to putting the best interest of the people first.
“I want to say to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis that we promised the people that we will seek opportunities to work with the opposite side when necessary to put their affairs above political parties, grandstanding, and individual agendas because we must live by what we purport here when we say Country Above Self,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said.
The prime minister added, “I want the people of St. Kitts and Nevis to recognize that this is really a new day, a better way, in which we can conduct ourselves in this Honourable House where we are really putting the agenda of the people above any individual party or any other type of agenda.”
Prime Minister Dr. Drew went on to say that it is this type of collaborative approach to governance that shows the maturity of the Federation’s democracy.
“We have said that it is important that whatever advancement occurs in St. Kitts and Nevis should have that spirit of collaboration that we are speaking about. There will always be differences and there will be bills where there will be differences between both sides, but should we always be antagonistic and be antagonistic just for antagonistic sake, wasting time, money, energy and creating bad vibes when there is no need to create bad vibes, or [should we] have the opportunity to create collaboration and to show to our people that indeed our democracy – which is going to complete 40 years this year – is indeed maturing. And so, we are saying to our people that today is a historic day in that sense,” said Prime Minister Dr. Drew.
The two Bills, Nevis Island Administration (Civil Proceedings) Bill, 2023 and the Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Bill, 2023, were passed with the support of the majority of elected and nominated Members of Parliament on both the Government and Opposition benches.
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