Speaker of the House of Representatives Bridgid Annisette-George has adjourned the sitting of the House for the Electoral College – both houses of Parliament – to meet on the motion to remove President Paula-Mae Weekes.
The Speaker adjourned the House to a date to be fixed, in a fiery sitting in which she also ruled against debate on the matter. She called for the Electoral College to then meet on the matter.
Earlier she was forced to temporarily suspend the sitting of the House of Representatives after being interrupted several times by members of the Opposition and ruled against any debate on the matter.
The earlier suspension came as the Speaker was giving a reply under the Parliament’s procedural item, ‘Announcements by the Speaker’, to a letter she received from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Opposition Member for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh claimed the Speaker’s actions were a “total abuse” of Parliament.
However, Annisette-George said that under ‘Announcements’, the Speaker can make announcements and rulings of all natures.
As Opposition members continued interrupting and calling for, among other things, that the Opposition leader be given a chance to reply, the Speaker suspended the sitting for 15 minutes.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bridgid Annisette-George MP. (Image courtesy Parliament Secretariat)
Speaker makes her case
Annisette-George insisted that a motion is defined as a proposal brought before the House for a decision, in general, motions are debatable and can be amended.
However, she noted there are several exceptions.
She noted that for example, a privilege motion does not trigger a debate.
“At this stage, the Constitution does not provide, expressly or by implication, for a debate,” she said.
As she outlined her case, she said Section 36 1C of the Consitution does not contemplate a debate by the Electoral College at this stage.
“The Leader of the Opposition’s letter also seems to suggest that the debate she desires should take place in the Electoral College. Indeed, the Member asserted that “it is absurd to ask the Members of the House and Senate to vote on such an important motion without a debate,” she said.
She added: “However, it is strikingly odd that the Leader of the Opposition would refer to a clear provision of the Constitution as “absurd”. All of us assembled here swore an Oath to uphold the Constitution, the very Constitution that the Member is now labeling as absurd because it is at variance with her misguided opinion.”
Opposition members argued that “Section 36C” was not a meeting of the Electoral College and asked the Speaker to say where her legal advice came from.
House meets
Annisette-George: No bias
She said she was astounded by the accusation of ‘bias’ brought by the Opposition Leader and did not agree that this matter arose.
She said she rejected a claim “that I seek to influence or advise or convince any member of parliament to refrain from participating in this debate”.
“It is absurd to suggest that any or every person who has participated in processes that are not the specific subject of this motion should be disqualified from participating in these proceedings. Many Honourable Members here have sat in Cabinet, have held or currently hold Ministerial portfolios, have participated in debates, have asked questions and filed motions on issues which may be perceived as related (although irrelevant) to this matter,” she said.
She continued: “The claim of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, taken to its logical conclusion, would suggest, that even the proposer and the Members who signed in support may be perceived as biased and should be disallowed from participating as well. NO right thinking person will see the remotest connection between that 2009 Order and the subject matter of the Motion at hand.”
As she concluded, she said: “I cannot, and I will not assume upon myself, the power to construe the words of the Constitution in a way which is inconsistent with its clear intention, simply to appease the competing interests of those involved,” she said.
Opposition members in the House
Persad-Bissessar: ‘It was a death announcement’
Persad-Bissessar rose and declared the statement a death announcement saying it was “the death of democracy”.
However, she was not allowed to continue as her microphone was cut.
She then called on Persad-Bissessar to propose the motion.
Persad-Bissessar insisted that the guidelines were ‘unilaterally’ formulated by the Speaker.
She described the guidelines as null and void and said the Opposition was participating in the proceedings under protest.
She then read the motion to the House which was interrupted several times by the pounding of the desks by Opposition members.
Attempts by the Opposition leader to continue after she read the motion, were shut down as the microphone was cut off again.
Opposition members argued that the Speaker was seeking to “silence the Opposition” and that “democracy is dead in this House”.
One member shouted, “Madame the people voted for us. Who voted for you?”
They demanded that the Opposition Leader be allowed to continue her discourse.
Heated debate as Speaker attempts to continue
The Speaker said that Section 36 1B stated that the motion be signed by not less than one-third of the total House of Representatives. She said to move to the next stage this motion must be signed by one-third of the members.
However, St Augustine MP, Khadija Ameen insisted that the Leader of Opposition had to finish “reading her motion” and argued that elected representatives were not being allowed to be heard.
She insisted that the Leader of the Opposition did not complete the reading of her motion.
After heated debate, the Clerk of the House then called for the members who signed the motion to vote on it.
However, some of the Opposition Members said that there was no motion because the motion was not fully heard.
Some of the Opposition members said they supported the motion but disagreed with the ‘no-debate guidelines’, while others did not respond at all.
The Speaker declared that the Electoral College should meet on the matter and adjourned the House to a date to be fixed.