BASSETERRE – Another St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party parliamentarian is accusing the Deputy Speaker of the St Kitts and Nevis National assembly, Hon Michael Perkins of dictatorial behaviour and an outright stifling of democracy in the lawmaking body.Member of Parliament for St Christopher 3 (West Basseterre), Hon Konris Maynard has accused Perkins of preventing the opposition parliamentarians of speaking on a tax bill at the last sitting.
“The Deputy Speaker of the House refused to allow a single contribution from the opposition benches on a particular bill which was an Income Tax amendment,” said Maynard. He said Prime Minister Harris, the mover of the Bill; rose gave his introduction on the bill. Sen. Wendy Phipps got up and made her contribution and while she was making her contribution Opposition Sen. Hon Nigel Carty and I discussed that he would go next and that I would follow. When Phipps was finished, Dr Timothy Harris jumped up quickly while the Hon Nigel Carty was also rising on his feet. We had two persons on their feet seeking the decision of the Deputy Speaker Perkins.
Instead of facilitating debate where the opposition is allowed to make a contribution to the bill, the deputy speaker used the flimsy excuse ‘of catching the eye of the Member for #7 (Dr Harris) first knowing that if the Member for #7 rose at that particular time, it is to wrap up the abate on the Bill and in what is termed as dictatorial behaviour and an outright stifling of democracy and an abuse of his parliamentary power, chose to allow the Member from #7 (Dr Harris) the Hon Prime Minister to wrap up the debate without a single contribution from any member on the Opposition side,” Maynard told listeners on Wednesday.
He said the Bill raised the ceiling on what companies can deduct to pay tax from $75,000 to $90,000 and for the Deputy Speaker Perkins not allow a single utterance from the opposition side “is unheard of, is unparliamentarily, it is undemocratic and it substantiates the claims made by others that this Deputy Speaker is stifling democracy in the parliament.” “I Konris Maynard hereby states that it is my opinion that the Deputy Speaker (Hon. Michael Perkins) last week Wednesday used his power as a Speaker to stifle democracy and democratic debate in our parliament. The behaviour cannot be described as anything other than that of a dictatorial nature,” MP Maynard repeated.
He further stated: “From this day, I will say that I will protest that decision in Parliament or outside of Parliament, because for a government who promised good governance, transparency and democratic practices and principles, to have a puppet as a Deputy Speaker, presiding in the absence of the Speaker, who, because the Prime Minister happens to get up as they had no intent on allowing the opposition to speak and allow the government to wrap up the debate without a single contribution from the opposition, is wrong. It is bad. It is undemocratic.”