Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

gail.alexan­der@guardian.co.tt

Fiery ex­changes be­tween Op­po­si­tion and Gov­ern­ment mem­bers end­ed Wednes­day night’s sit­ting of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, with ac­cu­sa­tions and name-call­ing fly­ing.

This af­ter UNC MPs protest­ed state­ments by Gov­ern­ment House Leader Camille Robin­son-Reg­is on the with­draw­al of a ques­tion on the agen­da—and her state­ments that UNC leader, Siparia MP Kam­la Per­sad- Bisses­sar, was not there when that oc­curred.

It oc­curred as Wednes­day’s de­bate and the sit­ting was con­clud­ing. Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley wasn’t present for the clash.

Deputy House Speak­er Es­mond Forde had asked about the ques­tion as the sit­ting was end­ing. The ques­tion was with­drawn by Oropouche East MP Roodal Mooni­lal.

Arou­ca Mal­oney MP Robin­son-Reg­is, who not­ed it was with­drawn, met with query from one UNC MP on the where­abouts of the Min­is­ter to an­swer the ques­tion. Forde, who not­ed the MP had with­drawn the ques­tion, said he was pro­ceed­ing to House Leader Robin­son- Reg­is. One UNC MP shout­ed that she could have an­swered ear­li­er in the de­bate.

Robin­son-Reg­is, ad­dress­ing Mooni­lal, said, “We were told this ques­tion was with­drawn. You al­so con­firmed ...”

In­ter­rupt­ed by com­ments on the ques­tion from Per­sad-Bisses­sar, House Leader Robin­son-Reg­is, said, “You (Per­sad-Bisses­sar) were not here, Siparia, you were not here...”

With UNC MPs protest­ing, Forde warned them.

Amid the up­roar, UNC MP Kadi­jah Ameen queried the rel­e­vance of whether “Siparia was not here,” while at the same time, Robin­son-Reg­is—fac­ing loud UNC protests—con­tin­ued, not­ing the with­draw­al “...by the MP for Oropouche East...”

Ameen and oth­er UNC MPs de­mand­ed of her, “And who you shoutin’ at?”

Robin­son-Reg­is replied, “Ah shoutin’ at Siparia be­cause she was not here ... The MP for Oropouche East with­drew the ques­tion. I was there when the MP for Oropouche East with­drew ... you rose and asked again!”

As UNC MPs con­tin­ued protest­ing—with PNM MPs, al­so protest­ing against them, one UNC MP told her, “Don’t shout!”

Robin­son-Reg­is replied, “You won’t tell me how to speak!”

Forde again in­ter­vened in the UNC com­plain­ing and PNM re­torts and desk-thump­ing of sup­port for Robin­son-Reg­is.

Robin­son-Reg­is con­tin­ued, “Mr Deputy Speak­er, as I was say­ing, be­fore the MP for Siparia came back in from her so­journ, you asked again to con­firm whether this ques­tion was with­drawn and the MP for Oropouche East again said that the ques­tion was with­drawn. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, Siparia was not here ...”

UNC MPs be­gan protest­ing again. Robin­son-Reg­is con­tin­ued, “... Was not here ...”

Some ac­cused her of “ag­gres­sion”.

Robin­son-Reg­is asked, “What ag­gres­sion?”

She con­tin­ued, “The MP for Siparia was not here, did not hear on the two oc­ca­sions that the MP for Oropouche East stat­ed very clear­ly that he had with­drawn the ques­tion...”

When UNC MPs con­tin­ued queries to her, Robin­son-Reg­is point­ed, “Look him (Mooni­lal) there. Ask him! Don’t ask me! Look. Him. There...!”

Gov­ern­ment MPs desked thumped their sup­port while UNC MPs protest­ed.

Amid the noise, Robin­son-Reg­is con­tin­ued her state­ments, telling the UNC to un­der­stand their MPs.

Young warns Kam­la ...

In the din, En­er­gy Min­is­ter Stu­art Young shout­ed in Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s di­rec­tion, “Oropouche East com­ing to take your wick­et! Oropouche East com­ing to take your wick­et! Oropouche East com­ing to take your wick­et!”

A UNC MP shout­ed sev­er­al times, “What out­burst is dat boy, Small Pin?! ... Se­nior coun­sel, what is that (about)... ?”

UNC’s Rudy In­dars­ingh added, “Mr Deputy Speak­er, Arou­ca Mal­oney must be reined in!”

Dur­ing the melee, Robin­son-Reg­is had con­tin­ued call­ing sev­er­al times to the UNC, “Take con­trol of your Mem­bers and what your Mem­bers are do­ing!”

An­oth­er UNC MP yelled at her, “Too ag­gres­sive! You too ag­gres­sive!”

Robin­son-Reg­is be­gan, “You can’t tell me ...”

As UNC MPs con­tin­ued yelling and desk-thump­ing went on, PNM MPs al­so “rum­bled”.

With both sides rag­ing at each oth­er, Forde called for or­der and amid more noise, say­ing, “Mem­bers, I have ruled!”

He called for Robin­son-Reg­is to do the ad­journ­ment of the House.

As Robin­son-Reg­is be­gan speak­ing, she re­ceived more flack from UNC MPs.

She replied grim­ly, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

The UNC con­tin­ued protest­ing, caus­ing Forde to rise again. Robin­son-Reg­is then an­nounced the ad­journ­ment to a date to be fixed.

A UNC MP told the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day that he had been afraid the sit­u­a­tion might have come to blows on Wednes­day night. But a PNM MP claimed the UNC be­gan the sit­u­a­tion, “And we had to de­fend as we do for T&T.”