Caribbean News
PNP Member says to Cut ties with Haiti
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, February 2, 2023 – One member of the House of Assembly says it is time for the country to cut ties with Haiti and is calling on the National Security Council to save the TCI. The call came from PNP-appointed member Jameka Williams in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, January 25th.
Despite acknowledging the long and often profitable relationship between the two countries and the TCI’s need for unskilled labour from the Caribbean nation as well as the extreme hardships that have beset the country in recent decades Williams said, “the Turks Caicos Islands is too small of a nation to concern itself with the hardships of Haiti.”
Williams maintained that illegal migration had soured the relationship. Describing it as a growing concern she barrelled on: “Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that we have an illegal immigration problem. In recent years there are too many people, particularly on the island of Providenciales that do not look like me. We can barely recognize anyone anymore— it’s too much of them and not enough of us,” she said.
“They have dominated our workforce, our schools and our social programs geared at protecting and empowering our
people.” she said, describing herself as ‘fearful’. “Should this illegal migrant issue continue to be left unchecked, in about 5 years we will have a TCI we all do not recognize; and so to this end, I think it is time for us to discontinue our relationships with Haiti until there is some level of normalcy in Haiti with its government and the island on a whole.”
Williams said that illegal migration was not unique to Haitians, and migrants from all over the world are ‘flying under the radar and milking the country of all its benefits’.
“They are in the Caucasian and Asian communities, involved in the sale of our real estate, dominating the water sports industry and Villa markets, doing the catering and property management and they are grossly offensive and disrespectful to our people. Who are we building this country for?” She demanded only days after an offensive email with disparaging comments about the country reportedly from an ex-pat surfaced on Facebook.
Williams’s speech also came despite the fact that major institutions including hotels across the islands, Fortis TCI, the TCI Hospitals, The Ministry of Education, The Turks and Caicos Airports Authority, The Police, The Immigration and Customs Departments and many more have admitted that they are woefully short on labour of all kinds, unskilled or otherwise. This has left the country short on basic services including the police records needed for work permits exacerbating the issue even more.
The government in a last-ditch attempt to fatten up the population with people who are at least of TCI heritage and slow down the number of migrants from other countries who are becoming naturalised announced that it would allow third-generation TCI citizens to claim citizenship in the country under a new Immigration Bill.
The HOA member maintained she was not being ‘racist or discriminatory’ but simply representing the TCI people and maintained that while the government was working to protect its borders, the members of the National security board headed by PNP Party Leader Washington Misick and Governor Nigel Dakin should ‘urgently intervene and help save the country for the beautiful people of the TCI.’
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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