Premier Reuben Meade
Premier the Hon. Reuben T. Meade survived his second motion of no confidence against him, calling it frivolous and vexatious, not surprisingly with a vote of no 7-2. During his submission in defence, the Premier after said he would have voted in favour of the motion, but said he would describe the Motion using, “the ‘F’-word. “I may have had no choice other than to support it but madam speaker the motion was put forward and I’m gonna use the ‘F’ word; its frivolous and vexatious…” Premier speaks of the ‘F’ word
Premier ensures everyone votes and prevents forced abstentions
Before the vote, the Premier astutely preceded it with a successful request for a recess, requesting a count. This vote was not as nervous for him as it was back in 1992 when he survived with a 4-2 in his favour with one abstention coming from the opposition. That abstention was by Noel ‘Dada’ Tuitt, now deceased, who propped him up when the going got tougher in 1994 after his deputy resigned from his government.
Premier’s second No confidence motion against him
The motion in 1992 was tabled by Mrs. Ruby Wade-Bramble who in addressing the motion said similar words to the Hon. Donaldson Romeo in supporting his motion. “Any vote against the motion would be a vote against honesty and integrity…, she said, adding that she hoped they would, “display these virtues through their vote on the motion.”
Donaldson Romeo, Opposition Leader
Romeo in his motion called on everyone to be truthful as he closed his motion where he called on the Legislative Assembly elected members to “…find that the Hon Premier has acted in disregard of principles of democratic accountability and of the principle that the executive must answer to the legislature in a parliamentary democracy. That, this honourable House further finds that such violations of principles of good government are willful, are repeated, and are harmful to the people of Montserrat and our hopes for recovery and sustainable redevelopment after the devastating impact of the Volcano crisis. Also, since the behavior is repeated, the Cabinet as a whole is knowledgeable of it. As a result, this honourable House hereby CENSURES the Premier for said action, and thereby expresses a LOSS OF CONFIDENCE in his Premiership. Thus, it has NO CONFIDENCE in the Hon Premier.
He reiterated, let “…Everyman who stands after me speak the truth, because the truth is goanna set us free… leadership that is based on truth…” (listen – Romeo begs for legislators to profess truth)
No Confidence Motion against ‘One manism’
In a single word he accused the Premier of “one manism”, as he recalled Premier’s representation in Quito , Ecuador to the United Nations (UN) Decolonisation Committee, recommending the delisting of Montserrat, without consulting the people or the Legislature or his Cabinet, while saying that the UK supported his position. Another point of support of his one manism claim is the introduction of a new tariff, which among many other hardship situations, increased on such medicines, antibiotics, insulin, while decreasing the tariff on alcohol.
James votes with government
The Hon. Victor James was the first to speak after the opposition leader placed his motion. James launched into an attack on the motion admonishing that he was tired hearing the talk of independence, a word never mentioned once in Romeo’s motion. While he expressed his dissatisfaction with items of increase in the tariff, citing water should be cheaper, he voted against his side of the house with a ‘yes’ first and then a‘nay’.
All or most members of the government side spoke against the motion, claiming togetherness on matters, suggesting that all decisions are discussed with them by the Premier.
David Osborne got a reference from the Premier in his address, for expressing his level of dissatisfaction or disagreements from time to time with the Premier on issues.
UN Decolonisation speech
The Premier said with respect to his Quito declaration that he spoke, as he only knew how. “…when we look at the substance of the no confidence motion there are nineteen clauses fifteen of them focused exclusively on a statement I made in Quito, Ecuador at the invitation of the decolonization committee and therefore my views were put forward in the only way I know how. to make them and that is forcefully….,” he said.
He lauded his government, and took full responsibility for the tariff ‘mistakes’’ as that became the buzz word for the admitted tariff debacle. “I don’t think that any of you in this honorable house will say that they (government) have not delivered.”
Premier seeks government continuance to end of term
The Premier yielded however as he begged to be allowed to serve out the term. “Maybe they haven’t delivered as much, but we’ve delivered sufficient to allow us the opportunity to continue serving out our term until the next elections and the people will make a determination as to who they wish to lead this country forward. It’s a simple electoral process,” he said. (listen to Premier’s full term request and apology)
Romeo in his motion had decried the government for not keeping their party (MCAP’s) pledges. He said he would rally with them if they kept their promises to the people. It was to this the Premier spoke next. “(this vote) of no confidence is for nine members to . (Romeo tells the whole hole point of the motion)
“We’re goanna serve out this term, we’re goanna continue the developments, and we are goanna deliver the projects that we have promised to deliver in this country. We are creating the employment and when we make mistakes we’re not too big to say that we have made mistakes and we apologise.
Premier’s apology
While he laid blame on Customs officers, referring to the tariff change exercise, saying, “…on which the customs officers were expected to work, errors have been made with respect to some tariff rates: some went down and others went up in the process…” Premier admits responsibility for tariff and apologises
“We apologise for the tariff. Yes mistakes have been made, but, let us continue to get the business of the people of Montserrat done,” he said, later taking full responsibility as the Minister of Finance.
Hon Dr. Lowell Lewis supported the motion as he explained while he was chief minister when he took a completely different approach when he spoke to the UN Committee. He noted, it was a mistake to relinquish the only international support the territories have, to ensure Britain maintains its responsibility. He also asked that responsibility be taken for what, he too called, mistakes.
