The five minority members in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) staged a dramatic walkout at the monthly plenary sitting without debating two bills which will provide self-government for Tobago on Thursday. This has cleared the way for the bills, one to amend the Constitution to provide for the entrenchment of certain provisions relating to the THA and related matters; and the other to repeal and replace the THA Act to provide for the re-establishment of the THA to prescribe its powers and functions and related matters, to be forwarded to Cabinet and debated in Parliament. Debate on the bills was originally scheduled for a special sitting on October 20. However, the members of the minority side were absent and Ashworth Jack said that section 29(4) of the THA Act No 40 of 1996 made it illegal for the House to do so.
Presiding officer Ann Mitchell-Gift in a prepared statement said she had waived Standing Order 9 to give "anyone who wished to contribute to the debate to do so." She then invited contributions from members but instead of taking up the offer Jack got up and led his members out the chamber. The bills were taken through the committee stages and approved by the 11 majority members. The presiding officer then informed the House that the next step will be for the clerk of the House to forward them to the Chief Secretary, Orville London, who will send them to Cabinet for the consideration of Parliament. Mitchell-Gift told the House that at no time did Jack seek to inform her of any concerns he and his members might have about the conduct of the business of the House but chose instead to orchestrate a path of blatant disrespect to the office of the presiding officer and the present holder of that position.
With regard to the suggestion that the documents representing the views of the people of Tobago should have been tabled as motions and not bills, Mitchell-Gift said the choice to table them as motions would have represented the only other alternative format available for listing matters to be debated under "Public Business." However, she added, in debating a motion under "Public Business" the mover is required to read the document in its entirety at least once during the original presentation and the presiding officer is required to read each document twice, in one case approximately 30 pages. She said given the choice of procedures she was sure there would have been consensus in the choice to table the documents as bills, particularly when such a decision had the concurrence of senior counsel and a former attorney general.