Caribbean News
St. Vincent PM Recovering from Attack, may address attack on Monday
#StVincent&Grenadines, August 9, 2021 – One day after being treated in Barbados at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a head wound received in a melee, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines said he was still a little “giddy”.
“I still have headaches, when I bend my head down, I still have it, certain dizziness. Gonna rest up a little while, today, tomorrow, Monday hopefully we will see what happens.”
On Monday, the prime minister wants to again address the nation about the attack which has captured international headlines and which is the second on a CARICOM country leader in a month. The first resulted in the assassination of Haiti’s Prime Minister, Jovenel Moise.
CARICOM is not taking the attack lightly.
Chairman of CARICOM, Gaston Brown says he is appalled by the physical assault on the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Brown, who is also the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, says the attack on the Gonzales was serious and almost fatal, and introduction of violence into CARICOM is “shameful and deplorable.”
He says persons responsible for the assault must be brought to justice and stating that there is no place for violence and personal physical assaults in democracies where the rule of law prevails, including the right to protect.
Prime Minister Gonsalves, promised those behind the attack will be exposed.
“I will speak later about who I will hold personally responsible for this attempt upon me,” said Ralph Gonsalves from the hospital over national radio; NBC Radio.
The people who need to be condemned are those who instigated and continue to instigate against my personal life.”
Protest erupted in resistance to mandatory vaccine measures for the public sector. Weeks before, the prime minister said public sector workers who are not willing to take a vaccine to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COPVID-19) pandemic will be required to test regularly to prove their status.
“You have to pay for it … you don’t want to take the vaccine, why should we pay for your test every Monday morning? Why don’t you just take the vaccine?” Gonsalves said in a national radio broadcast.
On Thursday afternoon, an angry crowd was protesting near the Parliament, over proposed changes to the country’s emergency laws, where it will become mandatory for the population to be vaccinated.
According to reports, and images on social media, the Prime Minister was hit in the head by a stone, suspected to have been thrown by a protestor. He was particularly incensed by those who celebrated the attack.
“I am sure the vast majority of right-thinking people are revolted as to what occurred and what had been advised in my view which is completely unacceptable, was that some persons stayed on for a while beating drum and celebrating the attack upon me.”
The 74-year-old has undergone an MRI scan to determine the severity of his injury; after images hit social media of Mr. Gonsalves bleeding profusely. His white shirt was bloodied.
Many local and international political leaders have condemned the attack on the Prime Minister.
“No group of instigators, no handful of provocateurs or those who are instigating violence, or authority violence against the person of the prime minister and the representative of North Central Winward would be able to subvert the work of parliament or the parliamentary process.”
The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines was on his way to a parliamentary session when he was confronted by a mob; protestors were said to be from unions representing nurses, police officers and other workers.
Parliament carried on with its agenda, said the Prime Minister in his Friday statement.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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