BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE debate on the behaviour of Parliamentarians in the Federal Parliament never seems to end as it appears to get either progressively worse or not improving for the betterment of all concerned.
The debate continued recently with former Parliamentarian G. A. Dwyer Astaphan lashing at both side of the divide in the House, commenting on what he described as their deplorable behaviour.
“The behaviour in the Parliament is absolutely unacceptable and there are culprits on both sides of the aisle, and it needs to be stopped. I do hope that the Speaker’s actions will extend to all culprits.”
Last week, during the 2016 Budget Debate, Speaker the Hon. Michael Perkins suspended Opposition Senator the Hon. Nigel Carty for his “disrespect” of the Chair.
Astaphan expressed that Leader of the Opposition the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is one of the main culprits of unacceptable behaviour in the Parliament.
“These people need to settle down and have proper debates, behave themselves, be vigorous but operate within the rules and the traditions and conventions, and remember that they are the leaders of the country and must try to set an example. Their behaviour is turning off people and angering people. Dr. Douglas is one of the prime culprits in this. And they must curb these inclinations to misconduct, as must those on the other side who are attempting to do so. Let the people have fair and frank and productive and honourable debates. What is happening in there is an insult to us.”
That being said however, Astaphan explained that what takes place in the Parliament is a misdeed against good parliamentary practice. And the misdeed, he reiterates, is being perpetrated by Members on both sides of the divide.
“It comes from both sides but I don’t think we can look at it in terms of a photograph which is a still picture. We need to look at it in terms of a movie, a series of photographs going back for years. The behaviour in the House from the Government side, when Dr. Douglas was the Prime Minister, was unprecedentedly bad. The way he spoke even to the Speaker was unacceptable. The fact that they made all kinds of round and round nancy story arguments to justify not hearing the Motion of No Confidence when it was brought…that to me was the most disgraceful misdeed in the history of our Parliament.
“The behaviour was atrocious and it continues to be. It’s just that they do not have the weight of the Government, they don’t have the platform of and power of government that they once had, but they still have the platform and the microphone so the people can hear, so that they beat their chest and misconduct themselves. And then the people on the other side are dancing along to the music and doing the same thing; some of them.”
Under the current administration, Astaphan opined, there are still misdeeds being perpetrated.
“There is a rule that says you must not interrupt or disrupt. The cross talk is different from the interruption and the disruption. People are still being allowed by the Speaker to stand on Points of Order that are not Points of Order. A point of order is when you are challenging somebody on the basis of the rules to say he or she is breaking a rule.
“The Parliament is not being conducted – and it was worse under Douglas – according to the rules and conventions that are set there to guide it. When you depart from the rules and you give people too much power, they become the rules and you get the chaos, and the egregiousness and the abominations that you are getting now and that we have been getting for years.”
