BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LEADER of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Dr. the Rt. Hon. Denzil L. Douglas has explained that the “partiality” of the Speaker of the National Assembly is the main reason for a Motion of No Confidence filed yesterday (Dec. 13).
The Motion, filed on behalf of the Opposition and signed by Opposition Leader Douglas, SKNVibes understands, was filed with the Clerk of the Federal Parliament and the attached cover letter requested that the record reflects the Opposition’s wish for the Motion to be placed on the Order Paper of the next sitting of Parliament.
Speaking with this publication about the action taken, the former Prime Minister explained that the Opposition has had concerns with Speaker the Hon Michael Perkins’ “parliality” since he was the Deputy Speaker.
“This really has come mainly as a result of the concerns that the Members of the Opposition have been expressing ever since the Hon. Michael Perkins was the Deputy Speaker and on occasions when he took the Chair in place of the Speaker, the Hon. Franklin Brand.
“We believe very strongly that there are at least two main characteristics of the Speaker, and they are authority and impartiality. We believe that confidence in the impartiality of the Speaker is an indispensable condition for the successful working of the Parliament and the Parliamentary procedures. And we have found over the last few months that the Hon. Speaker Michael Perkins has embarked on a course of conduct which has given us reason to question his impartiality as a result of targeting certain Members of Parliament from the Opposition Benches, and from rulings concerning Members of the Parliament who are sitting on the Opposition Benches.”
Dr. Douglas noted that there have been several instances where Speaker Perkins was partial to those on the Government Benches.
“And it’s because of this departure from what the norm is and what we have noticed to be the course that he has taken. That’s why we thought it was important at this time to bring the Motion of No Confidence in him, because of the very many numerous cases where we have seen his partiality expressed in our Parliament.”
The Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Six explained that there have been instances where Government Members and Opposition Members would be found in contravention of the Standing Rules and Orders and action taken by the Speaker were vastly different for each side.
“For example, there is a very clear case where whenever the Members on the Government Benches would bring a matter to the Speaker’s attention and he would find that Members on the Government Benches would have erred according to the rules of the House, he would say: ‘Don’t repeat it, move on.’ A similar occurrence when it comes to Members on the Opposition, he would always rule, ‘Withdraw it,’ so that it is struck from the record.”
Many people have suggested that the same had taken place while Dr. Douglas was Prime Minister and the Hon. Curtis Martin was the Speaker of the House. However, when questioned about this perception, Dr. Douglas said, “I can’t speak to Martin’s tenure as the Speaker because I myself on several occasions had been the subject of discipline on the part of Martin when I was sitting on the Government Benches.”
