BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE behaviour in the Federal Parliament which has been characterized by dissention, bickering, crosstalk and suchlike, has become a cause for concern and one of the Members of Parliament said while his behaviour could improve, it is dependent on the actions of the Speaker of the House and those to whom he sits opposite.
Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas spoke at length with SKNVibes recently about his thoughts on his behaviour in the National Assembly and the general decorum of the House.
SKNVibes indicated to him the views of individuals in some quarters which are that he is the protagonist and often initiates a tirade or, in other cases, adds fuel to a fire which would already been started.
The former Prime Minister explained that “it is very unfortunate that our citizens, our residents and those who follow the Parliamentary debates and the sessions are not enthused with the conduct of these sessions”.
He opined that “unfairness in most cases, unfairness in the rulings and the positions taken by the Speaker” constitute a major cause of the breakdown of decorum in the House.
“When the Speaker does not display fairness and justice in the discharge of his duties, that leads to a problem. I believe that with my experience in the Parliament, I tend to react and I react vehemently, I must tell you and deliberately so, when I believe that the Speaker of the Parliament takes the cue from the Government side and tries to shut us up or rules wrongly against us. And this is the situation…that is fast emerging with the current Speaker of the National Assembly. When Speaker Brand was there on many, many occasions, when Speaker Brand would have left the chamber for whatever reason and the Deputy Speaker takes over, we had many, many instances of breaking down of the order in the Parliament.”
Dr. Douglas was adamant that the Opposition will not accept any “unfair ruling…that is designed to shut us up, that is designed to ridicule us, that we believe is wrong… We will not accept it and we will always come to our feet. And maybe in doing that the Speaker is insisting that he will not hear us, then you are going to have a breakdown in the order of the House…”
The Leader of the St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party explained to this publication that excessive crosstalk is another reason for the breakdown in communication.
“A second reason for a breakdown is that there continues to be crosstalk. I am not saying the level of crosstalk is not allowed because it happens in every parliament. But when the crosstalk is such that it is not even related to the debate that is taking place…” then a breakdown occurs, Dr. Douglas expressed.
He charged that a particular member on the Government Benches continues to chastise his Opposition senator with “all kinds of foolish, ridiculous, personal statements” which he said leads to dissention in the House “because naturally the speaker on his feet is going to respond…So naturally, there is a breakdown”.
Dr. Douglas was challenged by this publication that his behaviour was chiefly the same as when he sat on the Government Benches in Parliament. He again indicated that his reactions were in response to the “same taunting” which he said he experienced from the then Opposition.
He said the way the action/reaction scenario plays out in the Federal Assembly is “unfortunate” but was unwavering in his conviction that for his reaction to change, those of the Speaker and the Government Members of Parliament must change.
“If the Speaker would go about his business in a decent, responsible, fair and just manner, the decorum in the House will improve. There will be respect for the Speaker, there will be respect for each member on either side in the Parliament and there would be respect for ourselves and for the citizens who are listening to us. When there is no justice, there is no fairness…you are going to have confusion in the House of Assembly and it is going to affect the quality of the debate that we are able to present to the citizens of our country.
“…So if I was the chief antagonist or protagonist, whatever it was, then so be it. But I can say to our citizens and to our media that I believe that the level and the quality of our debate can be raised but it has to come from all three parties that are concerned; the Speaker, the Opposition Benches and the Government Benches.