The New Team Unity Government has fired Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence. He was the third governor since the federation of St. Kitts and Nevis became an independent nation on September 19, 1983.
According to a statement issued by Prime Minster Timothy Harris today (Tuesday May 19), “The Honourable Attorney General Vincent Byron and I met with Sir Edmund Lawrence yesterday, Monday, May 18, 2015, at Government House to apprise him of the communication dated May 18, 2015 from Buckingham Palace confirming that Her Majesty the Queen had given her approval for the withdrawal of his appointment as the Governor General of St Kitts and Nevis and the appointment of Mr Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton as Acting Governor General. The Queen’s formal approval of the request was given on May 14, 2015 and is therefore effective from this date.”
The statement confirmed what the opposition said last week that the governor had been asked to take leave to make way for the appointment of Seaton, who delivered the throne speech at the opening of the new session of parliament on Thursday, 14, May.
The dismissal of Sir Lawrence for the post was expected because during the 2010 general election campaign PAM said their first order of business in government would be to replace the Labour administration appointed Governor Sir Cuthbert Sebastian. Lawrence who replaced Sebastian three years ago was berated by members and supporters of team unity for not responding to calls for him to forcefully remove Dr. Denzil Douglas from office during the motion of no confidence debacle. To have responded positively to the demands of team unity it would have amounted to a coup, which could have landed Governor Lawrence in jail.
Team Unity campaigned on a platform with many fronts; a prosperity agenda with an emphasis on “fair share for all.” But three months into this new administration its obvious that “all” only means supporters of the tri-party coalition and Labours supporters will be punished for exercising their democratic right. A right guaranteed by the constitution to associate with and to vote for whoever they deem worth.
The Labour Party opposition staged a boycott of the opening of parliament citing the disrespect meted out to Sir Lawrence and the victimization of the governor general and other civil servants that are known and perceived supporters of Labour.