CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC—Former prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony was elected unopposed as the Deputy Speaker of the St. Lucia parliament on Tuesday, ending a move by Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet to seek a possible court interpretation regarding the appointment.
Speaker Claudius Francis, Anthony, .73, served as prime Minister from 1997 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016 at the start of the parliamentary sitting.
Anthony, who also served as opposition leader from 2006 to 2011, replaces Jeremiah Norbert, who was appointed Minister responsible for Crime Prevention and Persons with Disabilities.
Norbert also assumed the position of Minister for Crime Prevention amidst a surge in gun-related crimes. He also acts as the Ministry of the Public Service, Labour, and Gender Affairs while the incumbent, Virginia Albert-Poyotte, is on medical leave.
Chastanet, in a March 1 letter to Attorney General Leslie Mondesir, said that at a recent sitting of the Parliament, the Government amended the Constitution to require that when the Office of Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, a new Deputy Speaker must be appointed “immediately or no later than the following sitting of the House.”
He said that in a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister, he reiterated that Section 36 of the Constitution was amended to allow a person not a member of the House to be elected to the position of Deputy Speaker.
“We have been advised that the amendment to Section 36 is insufficient to permit the Government to fill the Office of the Deputy Speaker vacancy in the manner it proposes to.
“We are advised that Section 30 of the Constitution, the Supreme law of the land, MUST also be amended to allow for the appointment of a person who is not a member of the House to be recognized as a Member,” Chastanet wrote.
Chastanet said that the issue regarding the appointment of a Deputy Speaker “is a matter of great public and constitutional importance” and that the “public must be assured that the law-making body and the Government are seen to abide by the law of the land and not political expedience.
“Therefore, I seek your urgent response and appeal to your good Office for a full and fair consideration of the matter. Should your legal opinion differ from that stated above, I seek your reference of the matter to the Court of Appeal for its opinion,” he wrote in his letter.
But when he nominated Anthony for Deputy Speaker, Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre dismissed Chastanet’s concerns, saying, “It has always been the policy of the government to follow the Constitution and the physiological position of government to follow the Constitution.”
He reminded legislators that no one had been appointed Deputy Speaker for five years under the Chastanet administration.
“We spoke about it, and we promised the electorate that when in government, we would ensure that there was a deputy speaker,” Pierre said, adding, “We kept that promise, and we caused that promise to be out in the Constitution of St. Lucia.”
He said that since Norbet had been appointed a minister, he had to resign as Deputy Speaker.
“I informed the public of St. Lucia that at the next sitting of the House, we would have elected a Deputy Speaker,” he said, brushing aside suggestions that he had made a statement “to say that the Deputy Speaker would be a member not in the House.
“I said it would be a member in the House or out of the House…so the misinformation continues,” Pierre said, adding, “It is my honor and my privilege to nominate Dr. Kenny David Anthony as Deputy Speaker.”
When the Speaker asked for other nominations, a government legislator named Chastanet, to which the Speaker replied, “You can’t nominate the Leader of the Opposition.
“If there are no other nominees, I at this moment declare the Member for Vieux Fort South, elected Deputy Speaker unopposed,” Francis said.
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