Last Updated on August 1, 2019, 2:31 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The sudden resignation of Mr Don Boncamper from his high profile job as Chairman of the St Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), highlights the mounting string of resignations, forced transfers and retirements that have dogged state institutions since the Team Unity Government took office mid-February 2015.
The “closely-knit family syndrome” has also extended deep into selected public offices and institutions as well as the co-ruling Peoples Labour Party (PLP) of which Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris is political leader.
Mr Boncamper has not publicly given a reason for his actions, but he turned in his company id’s and letter of resignation hours after a meeting with minister responsible for the ports authority, Hon Ian Patches Liburd on July 2, 2019.
The record to date shows high profile departures at the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the St, Christopher and Nevis Social Security, the Royal St Christopher and Nevis Police Force, National Bank Trust, the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation, the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Development Bank of St Kitts and Nevis.
Chief Financial Officer of the St Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), Mr Marcellus Phillip who was dismissed shortly after the Harris-led Team Unity Government took office in 2015, recently won a court case he brought against SCASPA.
Superintendent of Prisons, Junie “Scrape” Hodge who was sent on forced vacation in September 2017 after 20 months on the job is still on leave Wednesday, 31st July 2019 and is being paid monthly for the past 22 months.
“I call on the (Prime Minister) and Honorable Minister of National Security (Dr Timothy Harris) to state clearly and unequivocally, what is the intent of the government of the day in relation to my tenure as Superintendent of Prisons and why the rules have all been breached or ignored in relation to the allegations made against me and left in doubt for nearly a year and a half,” said Hodge in a letter to Dr Harris dated May 27, 2019.
Commissioner of Police, Mr Ian Queeley, sent on vacation, on October 1, 2018, was scheduled to return on November 3, 2018 and had his leave extended to January 15, 2019. A few days before that date he received another letter from the Office of the Prime Minister extending his leave further to November 2019. Queeley was asked to retire to accept a diplomatic post as OECS Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mercelyn Hughes was transferred to Chief of Immigration.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Terrance James, sent on vacation leave and leave extended multiple times has been offered new post of Commissioner of Prisons.
Howard McEachrane who held the post as chairman of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank from April 15, 2015, resigned with effect from August 31, 2017. Prime Minister Harris appointed his nephew, Alexis Nisbett, as new chairman on September 1, 2017. The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has 51 percent shareholding in the financial institution and appoints the directors.
In October, 2017, news broke of another high profile resignation in National Bank. Barbadian Victor Boyce, the Chief Credit Risk Officer tendered his resigned three months into a three-year contract. Boyce’s resignation was made public by informants, 10 days after word leaked that the Executive Director of the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, Mrs. Sephlin Lawrence was forced to retire one year ahead of official retirement.
Mr. Vernon Harris, chairman of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Trust Company resigned effective April 30, 2016.
In August 2016, Chairperson of the St. Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, Ms. Martiza Bowry, resigned in the face of political pressure from the Harris-led government to release the full sum of EC$41 million of Social Security funds to the National Housing Corporation (NHC) for NHC housing projects months before construction started. Dr. Harris’ brother, Len Harris, CEO of the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis is also a director on the Social Security Board.
Ian Ferguson, Chief Financial Officer at the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) resigned after a few months on the job. He had succeeded Marcellus Phillip. Other senior officers at SCASPA were either dismissed or resigned.
First through the door when Dr Harris assumed office was the Director of Public Prosecution, Trinidadian-born Mr. Travers Sinanan, who was at the time looking at documents in relation to suspicious transactions involving two current cabinet ministers. The services of Mr Sinanan were terminated with immediate effect at the end of July 2015, four months after Dr. Harris became Prime Minister.
Mr. Travers filed a law suit and on the date for the first court hearing, present was Prime Minister Harris, evidence of political interference.
The matter was resolved after the Attorney General Sen the Hon Vincent Byron reached an out of court settlement. In a golden handshake for his departure, government reportedly paid Mr Sinanan EC$2.5 million, but the exact figure is unknown as Prime Minister Harris and Attorney General Byron demanded a non-disclosure clause in the settlement. Mr. Sinanan’s wife was also dismissed.
During his January 19, 2016 press conference Dr. Harris in response to the pending resignation of then Speaker, Franklin Brand said “there was not a scintilla of evidence to such a resignation or pending one.”
But early May that year, it was Leader of the Opposition, the Rt Hon Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, who notified the nation that Mr Brand, elected as Speaker on May 14, 2015, had tendered his resignation on April 28, 2016, short of completing one year in office to become eligible for a pension.
Mr. Brand’s resignation came after months of reports that the Timothy Harris-led Government “has been pressuring him to stifle the democratic rights of the opposition parliamentarians and throw them out of the lawmaking body.” The Speaker’s chair has been filled by Hon Michael Perkins “who does the bidding of the prime minister and has thrown opposition parliamentarians out of the lawmaking body.”
Dr Harris’ first Press Secretary Clecton Phillip also parted ways with him at the end of February 2016, exactly one year on the job.
There were also two resignations from the state-owned ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). Board chairman, Mr. Douglas Wattley, at the time chairman of Prime Minister Harris’ Peoples Labour Party (PLP) . Deputy chairperson and later acting chairperson, Mrs. Avenice Thompson also resigned.
Family and PLP officers control the St Kitts-Nevis National Bank, the St Christopher and Nevis Social Security Board, the Development Bank of St Kitts and Nevis, the Magistrate and High Courts and are directors on several government boards and institutions including the Citizenship By Investment Unit, Government Printery and the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College.
Family members are also engaged in heavy equipment operation, construction, landscaping, car rentals, security, icemaking, transportation and taxi services.
At the PLP level, Dr Harris purged several executive officers and co-founders by not inviting them to the inaugural PLP Convention held in the Tabernacle, his home village.
The axe came down on PLP’s first Deputy Political Leader, His Excellency Sam Condor. He was replaced by Sen the Hon Akilah Nisbett, Harris’ niece in law and now senator, deputy speaker in the National Assembly and Condor’s replacement as the PLP candidate for St Christopher 3 (West Basseterre). Akilah is the wide of National Bank Chairman, Alexis Nisbett.
PLP Chairman, Wattley, deputy political leader Condor, Secretary, Clecton Phillip and Treasurer, Venelma Hanley, were not invited to the PLP convention and were replaced by family members and close associates.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
