St. Kitts-Nevis Speaker Of National Assembly Resigns

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 13, (CMC) – Speaker of the National Assembly, Franklin R. O. Brand, has resigned from the post due to health reasons.

In a release, yesterday, the government confirmed media reports about Brand’s resignation.

“Brand had been facing health challenges for some time, which resulted in the proceedings of the National Assembly being chaired, for some time, by Deputy Speaker, Senator Michael Perkins,” the release said.

Commenting on Brad’s departure, Prime Minister, Dr. Timothy Harris, indicated that the Speaker’s loss will be impactful.

“History will record that it was the Hon Franklin Brand who brought decorum, order, dignity and democracy back to our Parliament,” he commented.

According to Harris, there has been a vast improvement in the conduct of the country’s national parliament compared to what was a poor excuse for parliament under the previous administration.

‘‘One can recall that the previous Denzil Douglas-led regime brought our parliament into disrepute, thereby making it the laughing stock of CARICOM.

“This, as we all know, resulted in our sinking to the lowest ebb in our history with the travesty that took place on January 16, 2015, regarding the hastily convened parliament, simply to approve last-minute boundary changes in order to gain an electoral advantage for an incumbent government that had fallen out of favour with the electorate of this country,” the Prime Minister said.

A new speaker will be elected at the next sitting of the National Assembly.