Last Updated on February 21, 2020, 3:27 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Leader of the Opposition in St Kitts and Nevis, Rt Hon Dr Denzil L Douglas, is giving the Timothy Harris-led coalition a failing grade for the non-delivery of several of its major manifesto promises made for the 2015 general elections. February 16, 2020 made five years since the general election of 2015 and prime minister Harris is yet to ser a date for the new poll.
During his weekly radio programme “Ask the Leader” on Kyss 102.5 FM Tuesday night, Dr Douglas noted that if one takes the Team Unity manifesto on good governance and create a scorecard of the promises made, any reasonable person would agree that they should get a failing grade.
He made reference to promises the non-operational Information Act and the Integrity Commission, the non functioning of the Office of the Ombudsman and the watered down Public Accounts Committee.
“The Freedom of Information Act, passed in May 2018, today it has no Information Commissioner and there been no budgetary allocation for it to be operationalised. Five years after, a promise that was made has not been kept. The Public Accounts Committee has been watered down. You would recall that they said they ‘will comply with the legislation that requires that the accounts of statutory bodies and empower the Public Accounts Committee.’ The new Public Accounts Act that they passed removed all the “teeth” from the Public Accounts Committee,” said Dr Douglas.
He noted that it was only at this last Budget debate in December 2018, that they finally started tabling the audited financial statements of key Statutory bodies such as Social Security, the Development Bank and the SIDF “after we in the opposition have been agitating for this for very long time.”
Dr Douglas also pointed to the refusal of Dr Harris to release the IMF report for 2018 and he has prevented the IMF team from coming back to conduct consultations for 2019.
The Labour administration under Dr Douglas eatablished the Office of the Ombudsman which has the duty to investigate complaints against the government and attempt to resolve them, usually through recommendations.
But Dr Douglas noted that the Office of the Ombudsman has been vacant for a few years under the Team Unity Government as the prerson whose was serving at the time was not replaced when his contract expired.
Dr Douglas said the government has also failed to introduce campaign finance legislation pointing out that Prime Minister Harris, the political leader of his Peoples Labour Party has not kept a promise to hold a news conference to provide information on concerns raised by former colleagues of the PLP that millions of dollars remain unaccounted from the 2015 general elections.
On the Integrity in Public Life Commission, the former prime minister referred to Team Unity’s 2015 manifesto that promised ‘passing legislation and regulations including integrity in public life and anti-corruption laws that require public officials to disclose assets and sources of funds.’
He noted that it was under his administration that the Integrity in Public Life Act was passed.
“Yet, five years on, the Integrity in Public Life Commission is still not fully operationalised. The Commission has been underfunded with not even enough to pay the Commissioners,” said Dr Douglas.
Attorney General Vincent Byron is still to authorise the publication of the proclamation to trigger the declaration of assets and liabilities by persons covered under the Integity in Public Life Act, “hence there is no work for the Commissioners to do.”
“The first Commissioner appointed, Damian Kelsick, resigned out of frustration, now we have a new commissioner in the person of Justice Pearletta Lanns, yet still no movement on the Regulation, still not enough money for the Commission to do its work. The Commissioned is being stifled, it would appear by Prime Minister Harris,” said Dr Douglas.
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.
