BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th April 2020) – Newly elected Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) opposition leader Cleone Stapleton-Simmonds has expressed displeasure at receiving less than 24 hours’ notice of her swearing-in as leader of the opposition in the Nevis Island Assembly.
Stapleton-Simmonds, the first elected female NRP candidate, won the St. Thomas Nevis 5 by-election on 5th March 2020 with 514 votes, defeating CCM’s Keith Scarborough. Six weeks elapsed before her swearing-in was arranged.
“Whether the extremely short notice is deliberate or pure negligence, it is a clear reflection of the CCM-led administration’s lack of planning and organisation and ad hoc way of doing things,” she said. “The COVID-19 pandemic is no excuse for sloppy governance.”