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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – In what can only be described as a parliamentary scandal of historic proportions, the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly has become the first known parliament in modern history to go three consecutive years without tabling or confirming a single set of minutes.

The shocking revelation surfaced on Tuesday following the walkout of Third Prime Minister Dr. Hon. Timothy Harris, who stormed out of the Assembly in protest of what he termed a “reckless, irregular, and unlawful” attempt to retroactively approve three years of unconfirmed minutes in bulk.

An Unprecedented Breakdown of Parliamentary Accountability

Since August 2022, the Parliament of St. Kitts and Nevis has reportedly held over 27 sittings, including three national budget debates, without a single set of minutes being tabled, reviewed, or confirmed. This violates every known parliamentary standard and has plunged the nation’s legislative credibility into crisis.

Observers are now labeling this as an administrative and constitutional failure of the highest order, with Dr. Harris describing the episode as “fit for the Guinness Book of World Records — but as a record of shame, not achievement.”

“This has to be recorded as the first and only Parliament in the modern world that operated for three years without confirming any minutes,” Dr. Harris declared. “It is unthinkable, unimaginable, and an insult to democracy.”

A Global First — For All the Wrong Reasons

Political analysts and historians have struggled to identify any precedent for such a lapse in parliamentary governance. The absence of official minutes for multiple years is virtually unheard of in democratic systems, where the documentation of proceedings is essential for accountability and transparency.

A constitutional expert told SKN Times:

“It is highly improbable, if not impossible, for a functioning Parliament anywhere in the democratic world to go three years without confirming its minutes. Such a failure undermines every legislative act, every budget passed, and every motion moved during that period.”

The expert outlined why this is catastrophic for parliamentary integrity:

• Constitutional Requirements: Most constitutions, including that of St. Kitts and Nevis, mandate that Parliament meet regularly and that records of those meetings be kept and confirmed.
• Legislative Oversight: Without confirmed minutes, there is no legal documentation of laws debated or passed.
• Transparency: Minutes form the backbone of public accountability — their absence equates to secrecy and chaos.
• Historical Context: Even during wars, revolutions, and constitutional crises, parliaments from London to Delhi to Kingston have always maintained minute records.

Speaker Under Fire

Public outrage has zeroed in on the Speaker of the National Assembly, who for three years failed to present or table a single set of minutes. Critics are now calling for her immediate resignation, describing the lapse as a “monumental dereliction of duty.”

One furious observer put it bluntly:

“This Speaker has managed to do what no one else in the civilized world has ever done — preside over a Parliament with no minutes for three years. Either she is completely out of her depth or utterly negligent. Either way, she must go.”

A Constitutional Embarrassment

With this revelation, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis now holds a dubious global record — not for innovation, not for progress, but for what Dr. Harris termed “a breathtaking failure of parliamentary management.”

The incident raises urgent questions about the rule of law, the integrity of parliamentary records, and the competence of the current leadership of the Assembly.
It also exposes what Dr. Harris and others describe as “a culture of carelessness and contempt for constitutional order” under the current government.

As one senior political commentator summarized:

“This is not just a lapse. It’s a breakdown. The very institution meant to uphold democracy has become an example of how quickly it can decay when leadership fails.”

St. Kitts and Nevis now stands alone — not as a model of democracy, but as a cautionary tale for the world.