The government of St. Kitts has asked a court for more time in a matter involving Leader of the Opposition Dr. Denzil Douglas and his alleged possession of a Dominica diplomatic passport.
The matter was heard in court on Monday in Basseterre but has been adjourned to April.
Douglas is accused of having a diplomatic passport from Dominica which is against the laws of St. Kitts and Nevis.
Reports indicate that on Monday the government side requested for more time in order to respond to affidavits from Douglas’ legal team.
Outside the courthouse, Douglas described the request from the government side as ‘ridiculous.’
“They are now asking the court to give them not two weeks as is allowed, but three weeks in order to respond to our affidavits. It is ridiculous. They brought the case, they said they were ready to have a trial, [yet] now they are asking not for two weeks, but for three weeks to file an expert witness on the laws of Dominica, but they said when they filed their claim that the court was competent enough to make the determination on the laws of Dominica,” he said.
He added, “Why do you now want an expert witness to interpret Dominican laws? We have said if you want expert witnesses, we, too, must have time in order to find expert witness.”
According to reports Douglas allegedly has a diplomatic passport number DP 0000462 issued by Dominica, which recorded him as being a citizen of the island.
The reports state it is valid until July 29, 2020.
The government is saying that since Douglas holds such passport, it “disqualifies from being elected as a member of the National Assembly and was accordingly required to vacate his seat in the National Assembly by reason of his becoming a person who by virtue of his own act in accordance with the law of the Commonwealth of Dominica, under an acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state, namely, the said Commonwealth of Dominica.”
Why would someone wanting to and who has represented the interest of st. Kitts nationals at the highest levels want to be part of a sovereignity in one’s back yard?
Men and egos. Boss if you want to be a dominican diplomat have the decency to vacate st kitts parliament. If you want to be a Kittitian…have the decency to give up the dip. Passport.
After that level of fighting to retain another country’s citizenship or diplomatic passport will uou still want to run for the office of prime minister in st. Kitts?
A lot of caribbean leaders lack discipline, a sense of duty, loyalty, integrity and this is a prime example!
Op, your comments are so pertinent. Many of our Caribbean leaders lack the patriotism, commitment and loyalty to their country and their people. Where else in the world does a sitting leader of the parliamentary Opposition goes out of his way to procure a passport from a neighboring country? He now has divided loyalties. Skerrit is always at the center of some firestorm with Dominican diplomatic passports. Will he ever learn?
The court should ask him who sold it to him and how much oroom what arrangement was made
Lapseng,
Coallo
MADUEKE
Monfared
Zampoli,,Denzil,etc…
Where the wicked rule,the people mourn!
Skerrit must go
Skerrit must go
Skerrit must go now!
That’s the ones we know about. Bearing in mind that the serial numbers of diplomatic passports run at about 500 right now and assuming that they are issued in numeric sequence we can only imagine how many more have ended up with persons that should not be in possession of one. The logical question following on from that, how much was paid for the diplomatic passports and where did the money for the passports end up. In the interest of the Commonwealth of Dominica and all its citizens this needs to be investigated by an independent authority, since the PM refuses on an ongoing basis to shed light on this. This needs to be investigated and it needs to be investigated right now.
Power Corrupts, and absolute power, corrupts absolutely. The CBI, depending on who you asked, continues to have a BAD taste on the TONGUE of TOUTE MOND, it will not go away, the benefits, it seems is like night and day ,Heaven and Hell , good and bad . The question need to be asked, Is Mr Douglas an agent of Dominica? NEPOTISM, will continue to put Dominica in bad light, both at home and abroad, there is more to come.
Keep in mind, he has not denied being in possession of a Dominican diplomat passport. Our national sovereignty is for sale at the disposal of whomever wishes to buy it. CBI = Come Buy It
yes, it had been so since you all were in power. so what’s your point? it was good for you all then, today it seems to be a problem. hypocrite! you take people to court for dual citizenship while you hold two different passports in your name in your back pocket in the same court.
Oh please… We are going to cut off our nose to spite our face? at whose expense? This is a man that can do a tremendous amount to help our country and is from a sister Caribbean island. Why should he not have a passport to facilitate that work … or even in return for work he can do to help us?. But no .. the Government of St. Kitts .. for their own narrow political advantage would rather bring him down than afford the people of St. Kitts his service to his country. Pure crab in a barrel thinking. That is why in spite of inhabiting the most hospitable corner of the planet for humans , we in the Caribbean will struggle far more than necessary to get get somewhere.
BS, you are clearly a member of the red clinic… Here is something for you to think about: the real crime is turning a blind eye. All you Skerrit supporters would do well not to forget that!
Haha…that’s clever. It really is a “Come Buy It” program.