BASSETERRE, St. Kits – THE Federal Parliament was reduced to what has been described as “a den of brawlers” yesterday (Aug. 18) with the Speaker appearing to struggle in his attempt to maintain order and decorum in the House.
The session – the first to be held in six months – commenced mid-morning with most of the Government and Opposition Members present.
Following the prayer, the Speaker – the Honourable Curtis Martin - said the order and decorum of the house must be observed and respected and in that regard, all – including members of the gallery - should ensure that their cell phones do not disrupt the proceedings and that there should be no outbursts, disturbance or interference of the proceedings.
Opposition Member the Hon. Shawn Richards was the first on his feet expressing his views that the decorum of the House has already been disrupted with notice of that sitting not being given to the Members of Parliament (MPs) in the specified amount of time.
The Speaker’s ruling that that session was convened as an emergency sitting and that the matter is closed did not sit well with the MP Richards and cross-talking ensued, during which the issue of the lingering Motion of No Confidence (MoNC) was raised by Richards.
The Speaker advised MP Richards to “tell the whole story” and indicated that that matter is “before the court”.
MP the Hon. Timothy Harris called into question the Speaker’s adherence to the rules of the House and at some point, the Speaker challenged Harris’ obedience of the rules.
The back-and-forth continued for some 20 minutes before dying down. And eventually, the robust exchanges between the Speaker and the Opposition and eventually between the Government and Opposition sides continued during statements which were being made by the Ministers.
The Speaker appeared to have serious struggle in maintaining order in the House with jeers being hurled from both sides of the divide and statements being hurled across the floor. He suggested that he may have to ask certain MPs to leave the session then have it suspended.
During the first reading of bills however, the Opposition took the decision to leave the session.
A number of individuals - with whom this publication has spoken following the conclusion of the session – have described it as “a circus act”, “a den of brawlers” and “a poor example for the youths of the Federation” while others view it as “a battle of the powers”.
In Opposition’s absence, in excess of 12 bills were passed into law.
