BASSETERRE, St Kitts — St Kitts and Nevis Team Unity Coalition Government collapsed Tuesday when Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris fired six of his ministers and asked the governor general to dissolve Parliament.

The move is the latest in a stand-off between the prime minister and elected representatives of the People’s Action Movement (PAM) and the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), which along with Dr Harris’ People’s Labour Party (PLP) make up the ruling Team Unity Coalition.

Over the past few months there has been increasing tension between the parties with the PAM and CCM claiming that the prime minister has strayed from the core principles of Team Unity and was seeking more power for himself. This led to the filing of a no confidence motion against the prime minister and a protest by the coalition partners when six ministers from PAM and CCM refused to attend Cabinet meetings.

During a national address aired Tuesday afternoon, the prime minister described the PAM and CCM members’ absences from Cabinet meetings as “a flagrant disregard for their sworn duty to Cabinet and, by extension, our people and country”.

Said Harris: “Yesterday, I asked his excellency the governor general, Sir S W Tapley Seaton, to remove the honourable Shawn Richards from the office of deputy prime minister. In his stead, I have advised his excellency to appoint the honourable Eugene Hamilton to the office of deputy prime minister. Honourable Hamilton has been steadfast and responsible in discharging his duties as minister of the portfolios assigned to him.”

He continued: “I have also advised his excellency to revoke the appointment of honourable Richards as a minister of Government and to reassign his portfolios to the honourable Eugene Hamilton. Deputy Prime Minister Hamilton will now have conduct of the departments and subjects under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Posts and Urban Development that had been previously assigned to the honourable Richards.

“I am also to advise that I have asked his excellency to revoke the appointments of the other ministers who have thought fit to disrespect the sacred trust that the people of St Kitts and Nevis placed in the Government following our very successful general election campaign in 2020. As a result, the following individuals, namely the honourable Mark Brantley, the honourable Lindsay Grant, the honourable Jonel Powell, the honourable Alexis Jeffers and the honourable Eric Evelyn have been stripped of their appointments as ministers of Government,” he said.

The prime minister wrapped up his address by announcing the dissolution of Parliament ahead of general elections.

“The time for decision making is at hand. Accordingly, I have asked the governor general to dissolve the Parliament of St Kitts and Nevis, effective today, May 10, 2022. I will advise you when general elections will be held. In the meantime, the Government continues to function and it will do so in an orderly, efficient and effective manner.”

The dissolution of Parliament requires that general elections be held within 90 days.

Nevis Premier Mark Brantley, leader of the CCM, in a Facebook post after the prime minister’s announcement, said: “It must be a travesty that a man who has lost legitimacy as prime minister, having lost the support of 73 per cent of the elected members of Parliament, will now purport to fire elected members for whom the people voted overwhelmingly.”

The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), in a report Tuesday, said last week, the governor general denied a request by six legislators to remove Harris as the split within the ruling coalition Team Unity Government took another turn.

In a brief letter to the legislators, the governor general said that he had “reviewed your communication requesting the governor general to remove the prime minister and to appoint another minister in his stead.

“I wish to advise that under our constitution no such power resides in the governor general and I am therefore unable to accede to your request”.

Harris’s PLP controlled only two of the nine seats in the Coalition Government, with the two other seats in the 11-member National Assembly held by the Opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, which had called for fresh general elections to end the crisis in the Government.