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For the first time ever in the history of the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis , the Premier of Nevis and the Leader of the Opposition will be the same person, something never desired or contemplated by the drafters of the constitution. Our constitution has sections where the Leader of the Opposition, the Premier, and the Prime Minister must each give their views and or blessings, advice or support on critical matters of National Importance. to the Governor-General. One example is Appointment of Supervisor of Elections. An obvious constitutional conflict has now been created. It has always been the case that these 3 posts are held by three separate persons who each are consulted by the GG in certain circumstances by law. For this reason, the late great “Sir” Vance Amory in his wisdom always allowed another colleague to serve as Leader of the Opposition while he continued to serve as Premier. Apart from the clear constitutional constraints, it is also befitting of a Premier to allow another person in their party to serve as Leader of the Opposition. This allows them to get even more exposure and a greater national profile.

Similarly, parliamentary conventions also dictates that the Prime Minister never serves as Leader of Government Business in parliament but instead would ask another elected member serve in that role, in order to give them that national stage and shine.

Late Premier Vance Amory allowed the his Deputy Premier the late Hon. Malcolm Guishard to sit as leader of the opposition back in 2004 .

This historic breach of Parliamentary Conventions raises a number of questions and issues worth debating or discussing .