BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SPEAKER of the House Hon. Franklin Brand was forced to suspend Parliament for 10 minutes yesterday (Nov. 17) following what can be termed ‘fish market’ behaviour by some Members on both Benches who were engaged in cross talks and very heated debates, as well as the defiant attitude of a Senator when warned to desist from making reference to a Board member of the National Bank without documented evidence.
“I am going to suspend this House. I am going to suspend this House for 10 minutes. I am going to take a timeout. When I return to this Parliament, we are going to conduct this debate in an orderly fashion. You will abide by the rulings of the Chair or else I will then move in the direction of then having Members who are prepared to violate the rules from this Chamber, regardless of consequence,” the Speaker.
The warning came during Senator Nigel Carty’s response to Prime Minister Timothy Harris’ opening statement for the debate on the Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2015, in which he proffered the Government’s reasons for its passage.
Dr. Harris told the House that the Bill was “a simple adjustment with respect to the matter of transfers of real property. When on one hand to reduce the Stamp Duty from 12 to 10, and with respect to condominium property, to increase that from five to 10 percent”.
Senator Carty, in his contribution to the debate, informed the House that the Stamp (Amendment) Bill was first introduced by the Labour Administration and that the Team Unity Government was seeking to deal with the matter before the 2016 Budget in order to justify its promise to the nation of a tax-free Budget.
He also claimed that when the Labour Party Administration had introduced the Bill, members of Team Unity were not in favour of it, but now in office they have taken the matter to Parliament because the Government is in dire need of cash.
“What has happened is that having come into office, the Government finds itself without the credibility of marketing and building on the CBI programme that was left by the Labour Administration. In the last several months, the Prime Minister and other members of his Cabinet have been all over the world trying to sell, as they use to say, passports like black pudding on a Saturday afternoon.
“They found themselves in Miami, in Singapore, in Honk Kong, China, all over the world trying to rescue the programme by going all over the world selling passports like black pudding on a Saturday afternoon. So, because of the bastardisation of the programme and the reduced inflows, the Government has found itself in a position where it now needs to bring forward this piece of legislation.”
Taking the debate to another level, Carty accused the Government of knowingly putting a member on the Board of Directors of the National Bank who owes that institution millions of dollars, and that the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank had since demanded the matter be rectified.
“This Government...when you were here a few months ago debating the Banking Bill, we on this side made reference to something that was not just right in relation to the timing of the installation of the Board at the bank by the qualification of one member in particular on the Board.
“Since that, the Central Bank has written to the National Bank demanding that the matter be rectified with respect to this unqualified or disqualified member being on the Board.”
On a point of order, the Member of Number Eight, the Hon. Eugene Hamilton, objected to the latter statement and claimed “that should not be allowed in this Parliament unless he can point to that document”.
Once again the cross talk continued and the Speaker, who intervened calling for order, said: “Member...I will also raise the question of relevance to this particular debate...You are discussing the Stamp Amendment Bill. Yes, it is a money bill, but you can’t go all over the place on the topic.”
Carty, who stated that he was not discussing the Money Bill that had already passed, continued: “The Government is a 51 percent shareholder in the bank. Any losses to the bank create a loss to the Government. The Government has been receiving significant inflows from the bank every year, and any losses to the bank redound...”
Again, there were cross talk and fish vendor behaviour and the Speaker, on a point of order, allowed Hamilton to take the floor.
“The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is an institution not serving only serving St. Kitts and Nevis but the whole of the Eastern Caribbean, probably the whole world. National Bank is an institution that is serving this entire country and not a particular person, and the entire Diaspora as well. This Honourable Member, Senator on the Opposition Benches, is making reference to document, a letter written by that institution to another one, which is scandalous for him to refer to and he has to withdraw it. You either produce the document or withdraw it.”
Fish vendor behaviour again!
The Speaker then said to Carty, “You will move away from that point, please.”
That decision prompted the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, to utter remarks in support of the Senator, which caused an exchange between himself and the Speaker.
The Speaker told Dr. Douglas that “you are seated, you are not a part of this discussion”, to which a defiant Dr. Douglas said, “I am part of this House.”
In response, the Speaker said: “Honourable Member, you are a person of vast experience and I expect therefore that you will be contributing in terms of assisting the Speaker in directing the debate, not trying to be an obstacle. I crave your support in this. There is a member who has the floor and the Speaker is directing him to do something. I therefore would prefer if you do not intervene. Let the Member stand on his own two feet, please. He does not need your assistance.”
In continuation of his argument, Carty claimed that the National Bank was asked to forgive a $10M debt by a Board member, to which Prime Minister Harris intervened with an explanation.
“Rulings have been made on this matter prior...I am the Minister with responsibility and I have on more than one occasion spoken with members of the Board in relation to the allegations that were made by the Senator opposite, impugning the good name and character of a member of the Board. There is no truth, no truth for the record that any member of the Board owes the bank any $10M. No truth, and it is wrong and it is malicious for the Member having been told that the last time he introduced that malicious statement to continue to impugn the character of members of the Board and of the bank. It has no relevance with respect to Stamp Duty and it is highly irresponsible.”
Following that explanation, and directing his statement to Senator Carty, the Speaker said: “I think you are treading in some very rough seas here. And I think you better move on from the point. Let us not go down this road.”
That sparked another exchange of words, this time between the Speaker and Carty, who asked “down which Road”? adding that the Opposition knew exactly what he was arguing about and that “the issues are of critical problems”.
Carty was again joined by Dr. Douglas who also disagreed with the Speaker’s statement.
Speaker Brand then made a ruling on the matter.
“I will now rule that your reference to National Bank and Directors and who owes who and what
are not relevant to this debate.”
Carty asked, “Are you determining that?” to which the Speaker responded: “I have just determined that, so you cannot proceed on it.”
The Senator however picked up from where he left off and was once again rebuked by the Speaker.
While Carty was explaining that “when an institution in which the Government has significant interest is being asked to right off debt to the debtor”, the Speaker interrupted him saying: “Member, for the second time...and I am going to direct you again to not pursue that course of argument on this Stamp Amendment Bill 2015.”
Carty retorted that the Bill being laid before the House “is intended to raise another thing, because of the loss of revenue which the Government has incurred or projects on incurring and all those matters are relevant. And the point stands. This House has become one of just politics and nothing else”.
The Speaker asked if the relevance was directed to him and Carty immediately said, “Someone Mr. Speaker.”
And again the fish vendor behaviour took over on both sides of the House.
Dr. Douglas joined the fray, stating that “you can’t shut him down like that...he was elected to speak on behalf of the people”.
The Speaker brought the House back to order and said, “Member you are correct, you are elected by the people, but this parliament is based on this book, Standing Rules and Orders, and those Rules will be enforced on all Members.”
Cross talk continued and the Speaker interjected, saying, “Member, I am going to exercise restraint on this matter, because to go to another level would mean removing Members from this House so that the House can proceed in an orderly fashion.”
At that point, Dr. Douglas interjected and the Speaker told him that he was “insisting on interrupting when you have no basis for doing it. And there is no one in this Federation who will support the idea of Parliamentarians randomly interrupting and behaving as if we have no honour. This behaviour is despicable”.
The Speaker then informed the Parliamentarians that he would suspend the House for 10 minutes and noted that he has “absolutely no problem doing the job that I have been put here to do. Partisan politics is of no matter to me, but you are going to abide by the rules. Ten minutes recess, I am going to suspend the House for 10 minutes”.
