Today’s sitting of Parliament was prematurely suspended after opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones alleged that an opposition MP, who he did not name had been assaulted by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy.
The main opposition, APNU+AFC later named the MP who it alleges was assaulted as former minister Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.
With the House still resolved into the Committee of Supply to consider the budget estimates for 2020, Jones, along with other opposition members stood up and asked the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir for the committee’s deliberations to be suspended to address a serious issue.
“Mr. Speaker this matter is not a light matter Sir and we do request that the House be reconvened” Jones said. Nadir responded that Jones should wait for the matter at hand which was being dealt to be concluded before they addressed the issue that Jones wished to raise.
“Mr. Speaker we refuse…. A female member of parliament was physically assaulted by Mr. Kwame McCoy”, Jones exclaimed.
Subsequently, as the Speaker repeated his initial statement, opposition members began protesting, shouting “no” and hitting their desks. The Speaker then suspended the sitting.
