Opposition MP calls for meetings of Nevis Island Assembly

By: E. Williams 

CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS, JUNE 16TH 2017 – An opposition parliamentarian took to the streets of Charlestown, to demand that the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM)-led government of Premier Hon. Vance Amory hold meetings of the lawmaking body.

His placard read: “No Parliament. I want to talk.”

“No meeting of the Nevis Island Assembly has been called for 2017. As a representative of the people of my constituency, their voices need to be heard,” said Hector, a two-term lawmaker.

Hector, first elected in 2006 on a Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) ticket, is a former Minister of Communications, Works and Public Utilities, Posts, Physical Planning, Natural Resource and Environment, Agriculture, Lands, Housing, Co-operatives and Fisheries.

Opposition leader in the Nevis Island Assembly, the Hon. Joseph Parry said “it is despicable that the Nevis Island Assembly has not met yet for 2017.”

“Since the start of a new Nevis Island Assembly in 2013, only 8 meetings, of which five were for Budget Sessions, have been held in the past four and a half years,” said Parry, a former Premier of Nevis and the National Political Leader of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP).

“The Nevis Island Assembly is the people’s house where laws are passed and issues affecting the political, social and economic development of the people of Nevis are discussed. This Concerned Citizens Movement administration has attended every Cabinet Meeting and every Parliamentary Session in St. Kitts, but feels it is totally unnecessary to deal with the matters affecting the people of Nevis in the Nevis House of Assembly here in Charlestown,” said Parry.

“There is also no office for the Leader of the Opposition. There is no access to the government-controlled media by the opposition. There is also no Public Accounts Committee. Added to that the Speaker of the Nevis Island House of Assembly is a Director and Chairman of a government-owned utility company,” said Parry.

Premier of Nevis, Hon. Vance Amory is Minister of Finance, Statistics, Economic Planning, Education, Human Resources, Trade, Industry and Consumer Affairs in the Nevis Island administration n (NIA) in Charlestown and also Senior Minister and Minister of Labour and Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Federal Government in Basseterre.
Deputy Premier of Nevis, Hon. Mark Brantley is Minister of Tourism, Health, Gender, Social Affairs, Social Development, Youth, Sports, Community Development and Culture Telecommunications, Information in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) in Charlestown and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Civil Aviation in the Federal Government in Basseterre.

The collection of two salaries, two constituency allowances, two telephone allowances and two travelling allowances monthly by Amory and Brantley has been criticised by the opposition Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) in Nevis and the opposition St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) in St. Kitts.

Photo 1 – Hon Robelto Hector

Photo 2 – Nevis Island Assembly

Photo 3 – Hon. Joseph Parry