BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS(CUOPM) – The despicable display of arrogance and immaturity of People’s Action Movement (PAM) Deputy Political Leader and Parliamentary Representative, the Hon. Eugene Hamilton, at a Government-organised Town Hall Meeting eight days ago.
The event, posted on YouTube has racked up nearly 5,000 views and continues to be a hot topic for discussion on social media.
The Town Hall Meeting at the Cayon Community Centre was the third one organised by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Sustainable Development to address issues related to debt restructuring and future land use for housing, agriculture and economic development.
"First of all the people of Cayon came here for a meeting and it seems as if the opposition (Eugene Hamilton) PAM) came here to disrupt a meeting and as a young person from this constituency, that’s not the kind of representative I want to be leading my country," said a youth after Mr. Hamilton walked out of the Hall with the microphone after he failed in his attempt to disrupt the meeting "and bring it to an end."
The Government’s debt restructuring exercise has reduced the National Debt from nearly 200 percent of GDP to less than 100 percent of GDP.
She pointed out that the opposition is upset that the government came up with a plan to reduce the national debt.
"Next election they can’t come and talk about the ‘big National Debt’ so they won’t have anything to come with next election and that is their problem," said the female.
In a posting on sknyahoogroups.com, Poesy Southwell, son of the late National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Sir Caleb Azariah Paul Southwell said: "This fellow Hamilton acted like a leggo beast. Surely a parliamentarian could have asked his questions in such a pointed manner that he could have gained the political points that his subsequent actions revealed was his objective. I clearly heard the PM state that the rules of the meeting were that ‘anyone’ could ask a question pertaining to the land swap deal and that the assembled government officials would answer the questioner. From what I could discern, Hamilton demanded to make a statement based on what ‘he’ perceived had occurred in land swap meetings in other constituencies. When he was corrected by the PM, he surreptitiously decided to walk out with the microphone. Childish, churlish, immature, stupid and provocative comes to mind."
Earlier in the week, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas admitted that he had exercised "restraint, patience, command, control and leadership," during the despicable attempt by Hamilton who disrupted and attempted to end a government-planned meeting prematurely.
Less than two hours after Dr. Douglas warned in the National Assembly that the security forces had information that attempts will be made by the Peoples Action Movement (PAM) to disrupt the proceedings, Mr. Hamilton, PAM’s Deputy Political Leader, given an opportunity to ask questions said he will mash up the meeting if he is not allowed to address it and then walked out with the microphone.
The St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank Vesting of Certain Lands Bill was passed in the National Assembly without any member voting against.
In a column entitled "Richards, Hamilton, Brantley, and Amory all consented to the SKNANB Vesting of Certain Lands Bill!", Public Relations Consultant Charles Jong wrote:
"Basic rules of Parliamentary procedure dictate that Members who abstain (choose not to vote) actually agree to go along with the decision of the majority by their silence. A majority means "the majority of Members voting"; abstentions do not count in the total vote count.
Therefore, the question of relevance has been raised to describe reports by various local media focusing solely on two out of the seven Members of Parliament who were not present during the vote on the St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla National Bank Vesting of Certain Lands Bill, 2012.
When asked for an opinion on the matter, one onlooker commented, "it is a strategy by the media associated with the Opposition to create division among the ranks of Labour, but it will not succeed; Labour is ahead of the game."
The Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Mark Brantley was the first Opposition Member of the Assembly to debate the Bill. He spoke for one hour and two minutes and repeated over and over that the Government was disposing of 1,200 acres to retire a large portion of the country’s national debt. Mr. Brantley tried very hard to portray how bad a Bill it was but you know what? He failed in his 62-minute speech to say whether he supported or opposed the Bill.
The second Opposition Member to debate the Bill was PAM’s Representative for Constituency #8, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton, spoke longer and arguably in stronger terms than Brantley. Hamilton spoke for one hour and six minutes. PAM’s Deputy Leader stated in his 66-minute speech that he would ask for a ‘division vote’ but he failed to say whether he supported or opposed the Bill.
When there is a division vote, each Member of Parliament would be asked to indicate whether they support (Aye) or oppose (No) the question to the Parliament, in this case the Bill.
The third Opposition Member to participate in the debate was PAM’s Representative for Constituency #5, the Honourable Shawn Richards. Mr. Richards spoke for one hour and 18 minutes but he failed in his 78-minute speech to say whether he supported or opposed the Bill. The best he could do was say, "today is a sad day."
The fourth Opposition Member to debate the Bill was PAM’s Senator, Vincent Byron, who spoke for one hour and 16 minutes. Byron, like his colleagues, failed in his 76-minute speech to indicate whether he supported or opposed the Bill. Byron was the only Opposition Member to stay until the vote was held at approximately 11 and a half hours into the Sitting.
The fifth Member of the Opposition, Nevis’ former Premier and now lame-duck CCM leader, although present for most of the day, did not participate in the debate on the Bill.
The bottom line: after four hours and 42 minutes of debate from the Members of the Opposition bench, none of the Opposition Members indicated whether they would vote to support or oppose the Bill.
The bottom line: not one of the Members of the Opposition bench voted against the Bill. Yet for some strange reason, two or three reporters decided to focus solely on two out of the seven Members of Parliament who were not present during the vote.
The seventh Member who was absent at the vote was Labour’s Representative for Constituency #2, the Honourable Marcella Liburd. Ms. Liburd traveled to Barbados that same day to appear at an Independence event amongst Kittitian and Nevisian students there.