St. Kitts & Nevis – February 3, 2010: Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas is in Ethiopia as part of a Caribbean delegation to the African Union Heads of Government held in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. According to a BBC Caribbean report, Prime Minister Douglas was among a delegation of Caribbean political and business leaders, that included Vincentian Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who called for greater cooperation between Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. WINN FM have been reporting since Monday, that Prime Minister Douglas was off island and no one was appointed to function as his deputy in his absence. The prime minister is the only government minister sworn in so far since the January 25th general elections. Repeated attempts to get information from Douglas’ press secretary and other government officials for the past 72 hours were unsuccessful.
The BBC report did not say what the prime minister’s involvement was at the summit. A government official told WINN FM Tuesday that the government is operating in a vacuum without the appointment of a deputy prime minister and cabinet ministers, a position echoed by Concerned Citizen Movement (CCM) representative for Nevis nine (9) and elected parliamentarian Mark Brantley, who told this station Tuesday morning that problems could arise.
The 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union began on January 31 and ended on Tuesday February 2, 2010, under the Chairmanship of the new Chairperson of the African Union, Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi.
The closing ceremony began with a word from H.E Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who was addressing the Assembly on behalf of the Caribbean. He said that there was a strategic necessity to have a deeper cooperation with the African Union Member States, given that his region has a large population of people of African descent.
He appreciated the solidarity of the African people to the victims of the earthquake that occurred in Haiti. According to Prime Minister Gonsalves, the Caribbean has benefited from the rich culture of Africa. “We wish to reaffirm our love to Africa and our commitment to work together to build a better life for our populations," he said.
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