Shawn Richards – People’s Action Movement
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
July 27, 2009 (CUOPM)
Former speaker of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly has accused the lone Parliamentary Representative for the opposition People’s Action Movement (PAM), Hon. Shawn K. Richards for having no respect for the lawmaking body.
“The first time he came to Parliament in 2004, he defied tradition by refusing to take an official photo with the Governor General. The only time the Governor General comes to Parliament is at the Opening Session, which is just after an election. Shawn Richards refused to take a photo with the Governor General. Even when the elected representatives from Nevis tried to get him to stay to take the photo, Mr. Richards’ response was “˜I am not staying. I am going. I do not have any respect for them’,” recalled Liburd, adding: “It is not respect for them, it is respect for Parliament. It is respect for the Office of the National Assembly.”
Ms. Liburd, who also served as a Senator on the Government Side before being elected Speaker said when Mr. Liburd showed up in Parliament with one earring in his ear, she said to him privately “˜Shawn you should not wear an earring. The very next sitting, he came with one ring in each ear.”
“He said at the recent meeting in Molineux that they told him to take out his one earring and he came in two, but when he was going High Court to appear before the Judge, he took them out, because he has no respect for those in Parliament,” said the former Speaker.
“It is Parliament that he has no respect for. It is the same Parliament that he and his PAM Party want to run, that the Hon. Shawn Richards does not have any respect for,” pointed out Ms. Liburd.
“He has no respect for himself. He has no respect for Parliament. He has no respect for nobody. That is the kind of person we do not want our children to be following. That is the kind of example that we do not want for our children,” said Ms. Liburd.