Hon. Mark Brantley

On March 10, Parliamentary-elect Hon. Mark Brantley of the Concerned Citizens Movement will be sworn in as Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Federal Parliament. The public had anxiously awaited the decision on Opposition Leader since CCM on Nevis and People's Action Movement on St. Kitts each won two federal seats in the January 25th general elections. Brantley had served in that capacity during the last parliamentary term.

Brantley told The Observer that he was honored to have been appointed, explaining that it was the general consensus of both parties involved.

"It was a unanimous decision among the elected members on the Opposition benches. Of course the other elected member Hon. Patrice Nisbett has joined the Labour government and so he was not available to sit on the opposition benches," Brantley said.

The other members of opposition are CCM's leader Hon. Vance Amory and PAM's Hon. Shawn Richards and Hon. Eugene Hamilton. Hamilton congratulated Brantley on his appointment but explained that the decision was not based on the attorney's previous performance in that role.

"Bear in mind his party had two seats before when we had one. We are just now getting two seats. It made no sense now that both parties have equal representation in parliament to be wrangling over the position when he had been the previous Leader of the Opposition. We felt it was important for our support to go behind Mr. Brantley. We are confident that any of us who have been elected into opposition could have fulfilled the role as admirably as Mr. Brantley," he said.

PAM has been charged with appointing a senator to the opposition bench, however both Hamilton and Richards declined to announce the name of that individual. The Observer has been reliably informed that a decision has been made despite the politicians' claiming otherwise.

On the issue of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Brantley made it clear that CCM has no interest in occupying the position. As Opposition Leader, he would not be eligible for that appointment, leaving only the elected opposition parliamentarians and appointed senator to be selected from. The Hon. Patrice Nisbett formerly held the position but following last month's general elections had been appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal affairs in the new Labour Administration.

According to the Constitution a Deputy Speaker must be nominated and elected during the first convening of parliament after a general election and the nominee must have been elected or appointed to parliament. That person would act as Speaker of the House in the absence of the appointed Speaker.

Hamilton told The Observer that he would be surprised if the government side chose to nominate a Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly from members of the PAM party that had directly competed against the incumbent Labour party. He was somewhat elusive when asked whether he or Richards would accept if nominated for the position.

"I would be very surprised if that's what the government would want to do; to use its direct opponent as Deputy Speaker. Any such nomination would be seen as something that could prevent the opposition from fully participating at all times in parliamentary debates."

In the event that all qualified parliamentarians reject nomination for Deputy Speaker, Hamilton said he was sure that the government would have considered such a scenario when it made its Cabinet selections.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil told The Observer just last week that the public would have to wait until parliament had convened next month to know the identity of the new Deputy Speaker.