St. Kitts and Nevis has an acting governor general, following the approval from the head of state, Queen Elizabeth 11, for the withdrawal of the appointment of Governor General Sir Edmund Lawrence.
A statement from Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris confirmed that Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton SC has been officially appointed as acting governor general by the Queen.
The prime minister said that he along with Attorney General Vincent Byron met with Sir Lawrence last week to inform him of communication with Buckingham Palace, dated Monday, May 18, confirming both the withdrawal of his appointment and the appointment of Seaton as acting governor general.
According to the statement, the Queen’s formal approval of the request was given four days earlier on May 14, and is effective from that date.
The prime minister said in his statement that the meeting with Sir Lawrence was to assure him that all of the benefits to which he is entitled by law will be paid to him next week.
The decision to withdraw the appointment of the outgoing governor general comes as no surprise.
He has been accused by the then Team Unity opposition of adopting a partisan approach to the motion of no confidence issue by ignoring their letter to him informing Sir Lawrence that they had the elected majority in the federal parliament at the time – six of the eleven; two from the People’s Action Movement, two from Concerned Citizens Movement and two from the then newly formed People’s Labor Party.
Team Unity had expressed concern that their appeal to him to move the process forward had been completely ignored.
The Throne Speech at the recent opening of the new parliament was read by Seaton, leading to accusations from the opposition St. Kitts Labor Party that the new administration has been disrespectful to Sir Lawrence, and that turn of affairs amounted to political scheming on the part of the prime minister and attorney general.
