Never say Caribbean governments can't move fast. When vital national issues are at stake, they can jump with lightning speed. Let's take a busy Friday afternoon in bustling Basseterre, the tiny capital of St Kitts-Nevis. The date: January 16, just over a week ago.
First, some background. The Prime Minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, has ruled the country since 1995. He is the longest-serving head of government in the Americas. In 2012, he lost control of Parliament. Two members of his Labour Party crossed the floor. A new opposition coalition, Team Unity, now holds six of the 11 parliamentary seats. Dr Douglas clings to power. For more than two years, the Speaker has blocked attempts to debate a no-confidence motion. But the last election was on January 25, 2010–five years ago today; a new poll can no longer be postponed.
This will be a nasty, bitter fight. With fewer than 50,000 people, St Kitts-Nevis is the smallest country in the western hemisphere. In small families, feuds run deep and personal. So that's the context. Now back to that busy Friday afternoon.
1.50: The Boundaries Commission meets. On the agenda, new parliamentary boundaries. The two Team Unity members vote against the proposals; the two Labour supporters vote in favour. So does the chairman. Proposals passed.
3.45: The meeting ends.
4.10: Now the big surprise. One of the opposition MPs is suddenly served notice of an emergency meeting of the National Assembly. Normally, there's a week's warning. Today, it's just a few minutes. Indeed, one MP does not get notice until half an hour after the debate has started.
The Opposition Leader, Mark Brantley, is out of the country. The big emergency? It's the Boundaries Commission proposals from a few minutes earlier. There is no written report, and no maps. But there's a high-speed debate, and a vote. The Labour members are in favour; Team Unity against. Proposals passed.
6.10: The attorney general takes the boundary changes to the Governor General, Sir Edmund Lawrence.
6.20: The governor general signs the proclamation. Then he dissolves Parliament. An official gazette apparently materialises out of thin air. All seems to be in place. Parliamentary boundaries matter. In 2010, Labour won six of the eight seats on St Kitts. With the proposed new boundaries, the Opposition believes that would have bee a clean sweep. To block the changes, the Opposition also moved fast. Their lawyer�Trinidadian Chris Hamel-Smith�rushed an out-of-hours call to the court registry, who contacted the only High Court judge in St Kitts.
She is Justice Marlene Carter, by chance also a Trini. He argued that the high-speed debate was a complete farce; there was no real emergency.
At 7.38, the judge signed an injunction placing the new parliamentary boundaries on hold, until the legal issues surrounding the boundaries process could be heard in court. Civil society also moved fast.
Last Sunday, there came a joint statement from the St Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Christian Council, the Evangelical Forum and the Small Business Association. They wrote of their "utter disgust" at the "abuse of the National Assembly." There was "an orchestrated plan to frustrate the rights of the Opposition." The "elections should not be treated like a game to be won in any way and at all costs."
Dr Douglas said he would "choose to ignore" the civil society statement because it did not come on paper with a nice little letterhead and handwritten signatures. No, I'm not making that bit up.
So what's next? More work for the lawyers. Last Monday, a former British attorney general, Peter Goldsmith appeared in court for the government. He argued that the injunction could not hold. By the time it was issued on the Friday, the new boundaries were already proclaimed, gazetted, and in effect. Another Trini lawyer, Douglas Mendes, argued for the Opposition that they were not; he said the official gazette was not available, even after the weekend.
On Thursday, Justice Carter said she would rule on that point tomorrow or on Tuesday, and then go on to the Opposition's main points about the parliamentary process�or the lack of process.
And the election? From this distance, it's hard to call. Issues pull both ways. Last year, St Kitts-Nevis had a higher murder rate than Jamaica. The economy is fairly prosperous, based in part on the sale of passports to foreigners–an activity which prompted a stiff US warning last May over Iranian money launderers, and imposition of a visa requirement by Canada in November.
St Kitts-Nevis has seen trouble before. There were mini-riots with 18 injured in 1993, when the People's Action Movement (now part of Team Unity) refused to step down after an indecisive election. The Government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew. Troops from the Regional Security System were flown in; and fresh elections two years later ushered in the Douglas era.
General elections are scheduled for seven Caricom countries this year, with local elections in two more. A year to hear the peoples' voice?Maybe not. We're off to an atrocious start.