Senator Keisal Peters on Monday spoke to the rejection of her parliamentary questions for the upcoming session—specifically regarding the Prime Minister’s leadership of the OECS.
A significant portion of Peters’ commentary addressed her frustration that the Speaker of the House deemed her question regarding the Prime Minister’s chairmanship of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) inadmissible.
She attempted to ask the Prime Minister to outline his strategic priorities for the OECS during his tenure as Chairman and was told the question was inadmissible because the information was “readily available elsewhere”.
She stated that this reason was factually incorrect and said she had checked the Office of the Prime Minister’s page and the OECS website, and there was no information about his chairmanship, about any outcome documents”. She challenged the administration, asking, “Where can I find it? Somebody please tell me”.
Peters emphasized that the OECS is a critical body involving deep integration of legal and financial systems. She contrasted the current Prime Minister’s silence with the previous ULP administration’s practice of publishing public statements and strategic priorities whenever they held a chairmanship,.
Peters mentioned another question she submitted regarding a Ministry of Housing employee who was detained and expressed deep concern over this incident, stating, “these things are very serious issues especially if it appears that the police force is being weaponized against civilians”.
Peters on Monday critiqued the general attitude of the new administration compared to the previous one. Echoing Ralph Gonsalves, she noted a “lack of curiosity” within the new government.
She recalled that when the ULP was in office, they would answer multi-part questions from the opposition and even provide information that wasn’t explicitly asked for, because they endeavored to be transparent. She expressed disappointment in how the current administration is handling inquiries.