BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – A litany of examples highlighting the Team Unity government’s poor record of transparency, accountability and good governance has been unveiled by the Chairperson of the opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), attorney Hon. Marcella Liburd.
During the recent “Issues” programme, the former Minister of Health challenged Prime Minister Dr the Hon. Timothy Harris’ manifesto promise, public aggrandisement and statements that his three-party coalition government is ‘transparent and has nothing to hide.’
“I think he believes that the more he says it, the more people are going to believe, but he does not realise that action speaks much louder than words,” said Liburd, a former educator. Asking the listening public to make their own judgement, Liburd, who is also a former deputy speaker and speaker rattled off several examples of what she said has happened and is happening under the Team Unity Government in office for just 17 months.
She referred to the unwarranted attack on the sitting Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Trinidadian Mr. Travers Sinanan, who was first ordered by the Attorney General Hon. Vincent Byron to vacate the post.
“This was to get rid of legal matters involving members of the Federal Government. After the DPP took them to court, they settled the case out of court for a huge sum. It is said it is close to EC$1 million and a confidentiality clause was included in the settlement so the public would not know how much was paid to the DPP to settle that matter.
Is that transparency? How transparent is that? Imagine the taxpayers’ money been used to pay off and payout the DPP. We are saying the taxpayers’ money must be accounted for,” said Liburd, who noted that Sinanan’s wife was also dismissed. She said 17 months after the general elections and following the formal opening of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is yet to be named.
“This was one of their manifesto promises and it was in the Throne Speech. It was so very important for transparency and up to today, we still have no Public Accounts Committee. This Government is spending without any scrutiny and without any checks and balances and Timothy Harris has the gall to talk about he has nothing to hide.
He has everything to hide because we still want to know about the EC$1 million spent on his private home. We call on the government to put the Public Accounts Committee in place,” said Ms. Liburd. She also raised the issue of an apparently secret financial arrangement between the Federal Government of St. Kitts and Nevis and the Government of Nevis – the Nevis Island Administration (NIA). Liburd said the current financial arrangement needs to be made public.
She played a statement made by Prime Minister Harris in the presence of the Premier of Nevis, Hon. Vance Amory at his recent Press Conference in which Dr. Harris said: ‘Every month, we offer support or at regular intervals. When the Premier requires it, he gets the support of the Federal Cabinet.’
“We heard that Nevis gets EC$7 million in the last two to three weeks. How much is Nevis getting every month? How much do Nevis gets periodically? How much does Nevis gets when the Premier asks for it? Is this transparency or is Amory been paid for his political support? Miss Liburd asked. She pointed out that Section 110 of the St. Kitts and Nevis Constitution lays out the financial arrangement between St. Kitts and Nevis for the public.
“When VAT was introduced, there was an arrangement that was made public, but now we have a backdoor deal where every month Nevis gets money, on other occasions they get money and whenever the Premier asks for money, he gets money. This sounds almost like child support,” she said asking: “Is this the kind of transparency that the Harris Government is talking about.”
On the Basseterre High School issue, Ms Liburd noted that the BHS Report by the Washington-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was withheld from the general public and stakeholders for five weeks.
“It was only after much protest and an appeal to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) that that Report was finally made public even after Wendy Phipps misled the public that the Report did not address the issue of the soil when in fact it stated that the premises should be cleaned up and maintained.
Again, Wendy Phipps misleading and lying to the public. Is this how transparency works? Is this good governance?” Liburd asked. On the resignation of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Franklin Brand.
“The Speaker resigned since the end of April. Two months later the country is hearing about the contents of his letter. This letter was kept a secret and hidden from the public by Timothy Harris. The resignation of the letter had no reason to be in the hands of Prime Minister Harris, because it has nothing to do with the Cabinet.
This is a matter for the Parliament and it should have been with the Clerk of the National Assembly, but Timothy Harris is in possession of the letter. It was only after a representative of the Caribbean Parliamentary Association circulated the letter dated May 9th 2016, informing the regional associations in the Caribbean, Americas and the Atlantic of Mr Brand’s resignation, that the Prime Minister via a Cabinet release (without the date of resignation) announced on May 13th that Brand had resigned,” said Ms. Liburd.
“This is unconstitutional because the Speaker has nothing to do with the Cabinet. The members of the Opposition in the National Assembly had not been informed officially. We have not seen a copy of the letter where the Speaker has resigned. The first official notice was in Parliament recently when a new Speaker was elected on June 30th 2016,” said Ms. Liburd, again asking: “Is this the transparency that the Unity Government promised?”
Another issue that lacked integrity, transparency, good governance, ethics and accountability was the recent Stem Cell scandal at the J N France General Hospital.
“Not even the doctors knew and the general public was in the dark as the whole project was a secret with backroom deals, no laws, illegality, with no public knowledge of how the blood plasma got into St. Kitts. It appears to have been smuggled in as there is no customs declaration, coupled with the illegal gun that was smuggled into St. Kitts and in the possession of an American,” noted the Labour Party chairperson.
Lack of transparency and blatant nepotism were also highlighted in the appointment of Donna Harris, sister of the Prime Minister as a Magistrate. “There was no advertisement for the vacant post which is in clear breach of Statutory Rules and Orders (No. 8 of 2014), which states ‘every vacancy must be advertised,’ Ms. Liburd pointed out.
She said there were also no advertisement for the vacant positions of Director of Culture and Director of Sports, “but they were filled at the whims and fancies of Deputy Prime Minister, Shawn Richards.” The SKNLP chairperson also lashed out at the Harris-led PLP/CCM/PAM coalition for delivering a letter at 3 pm directing the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patrick Martin to take vacation leave at midnight.
“Is that the good governance, integrity, accountability and transparency Dr. Harris and his TUG – Team Unity Government – talking about? To send Dr Martin on forced leave for performing his duties under the Public Health Act, the message from Dr Harris and his THUG – Timothy Harris Unity Government is very clear.
Do what we say, even if it is illegal? If you go against what we say, you will feel the full wrath of the THUG,” said Ms. Liburd who reminded listeners that scores of public servants have been dismissed with immediate effect, without reason, or sent on forced leave.
“Some have told they are under investigation, but they are not aware of what they are been investigated for. Just that they are under investigation until you hear from the Timothy Harris government,” accusing the Team Unity Government of “a smear and fear campaign.” “Hundreds of persons have been victimised in the smear and fear campaign,” said the SKNLP parliamentarian.