Former Dominica PM says "Motion of No Confidence" should be heard NOW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++== Written by Ken Richards St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): A former Dominica prime minister is supporting the position of the Denzil Douglas administration that former senior government ministers Dr Timothy Harris and Sam Condor should resign as MPs and seek a new mandate from their constituents. The two have crossed the floor and now have their own party the People’s Labour Party, which is in alliance with the People’s Action Movement and the Concerned Citizens Movement. Dominica’s Edison James’ United Workers Party suffered a setback when after losing the 2005 elections, the party’s then deputy Julius Timothy crossed over to the government side over a leadership dispute. Timothy is currently the Health Minister in the Roosevelt Skerrit administration. Mr James says there should be legislation in place to deal with such developments, and would have initiated this had the UWP remained in power. “There would be legislation in place to provide that if you go to the polls and go to the people and win elections on a party ticket, then if you have to go on the other side you must go back to the people and get a mandate to do that,” he told WINN FM. The UWP leader says he would have been pressing for “what we call cross the floor legislation, because I do not believe it is appropriate to go to the people, get their mandate … under the policies and programmes of one party and then go to the other side without going back to the people”. On the matter of the no confidence motion however, James agrees that it should be heard in a timely manner and not be allowed to drag on as is the case in St Kitts at the moment. “That when that motion of no confidence is brought, that it must be attended to expeditiously,” he said. Only elected members of the House can vote on a motion of no confidence in St Kitts and Nevis, and the combined parliamentary opposition has six compared to the five on the prime minister’s side, making it likely that the governing party would lose the vote if the motion is debated. It is yet to be tabled after seven months. The motion was filed December 11 2012. - See more at: winnfm/news/local/4968-former-dominica-pm-wants-cross-the-floor-legislation-to-prevent-the-practice#sthash.VKApuBzc.dpuf
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 22:12:09 +0000
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