Eight APNU+AFC MPs were yesterday sent to the Privileges Committee of Parliament over the chaos that gripped Parliament on December 29 but a similar motion from the opposition was deferred over what was declared to be a procedural error leaving its Chief Whip accusing the Speaker of partial conduct
Hours after the Opposition submitted a motion to have over 20 government Members of Parliament (MPs) sent before the Committee of Privileges, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira yesterday counteracted with a similar motion resulting in eight Opposition MPs being sent for a disciplinary hearing.
However, the Opposition’s motion was not addressed as Speaker Manzoor Nadir ruled that it was incorrectly submitted.
“There was a motion moved to send a number of members from the government to the Privileges Committee. We received that motion this morning. Unfortunately, the motion to send members to the Privileges Committee was received with the letterhead of the Leader of the Opposition…,” the Speaker informed the National Assembly.
He added that the issue was discussed with Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs and Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones was informed of the blunder. The motion was then resubmitted about an hour before the 2 pm sitting yesterday without the letterhead.
“…as such as I did not have an opportunity to review the matters raised and I want to assure the Honourable Member Mr Jones that is going to be done expeditiously and we would deal with his motion,” Nadir said.
However, Jones attempted to argue that the emails sent to the Clerk were properly submitted but was cut off by the Speaker who informed him he should take that up with the Parliamentary staff.
Meanwhile, Teixeira in tabling her motion cited Standing Order 32 which states “(2) Any Member desiring to raise a matter under this Standing Order shall first obtain leave of the Speaker who will determine whether the Member is entitled to raise the matter as a question of privilege. (3) If permission is given by the Speaker under paragraph two (2) of this Standing Order, the Member so permitted may raise it any time after Questions to Ministers and move that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.”
She explained that the decision to table such a motion stemmed from the action of the Opposition on December 29, 2021, during the second reading and subsequent passage of the controversial Natural Resource Fund Bill.
The Minister said that the events of December 29 will go down in the annals of the Guyana Parliament as disgraceful and that in the age of technology the evidence of the conduct of the Opposition is indisputable. She argued that the space between the government side and the opposition in any parliament is considered a “safe zone” and that was breached.
“The safe space and any entrance without permission is interpreted as an act of aggression and a threat to the safety of the members of parliament…These events that transpired in this House, the stealing and the damage to the mace of Parliament, deliberate (and) willful damage to the equipment of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the control communication room, the assault on a member of staff, the repeated disregard for the Speaker and the authority of the Assembly require stern measures. As a consequence, so I brought and sought your leave and received your permission to bring a privilege motion and I do so now,” Teixeira said.
The motion, which was not circulated prior to its reading, said that the APNU+AFC coalition MPs conducted themselves in a “grossly, disorderly, contumacious and disrespectful manner and in particular repeatedly disregarded and disrespected, ignored the authority of the Assembly and the Speaker thereby committing contempt and breaches of privilege.”
She named Chief Whip Jones and other APNU+AFC MPs Ganesh Mahipaul, Sherod Duncan, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Annette Ferguson, Viceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Maureen Philadelphia as the members to be sent before the Privileges Committee.
Additional
Teixeira further argued that Ferguson and Jordan committed additional breaches of privilege when they “forcefully, unauthorizedly and in disorderly fashion removed the mace from its rightful position and attempted to remove it from the Chamber, thereby creating great disorder and chaos which resulted in injuries to a member of staff of the Parliament Office and damage to the mace.”
Additionally, the motion stated that Sarabo-Halley committed contempt and breaches of privilege when she entered the communication control room of the ACCC, which was proclaimed to be part of the Chamber of the National Assembly by President Irfaan Ali in September of last year. Sarabo-Halley, according to Teixeira’s motion, allegedly destroyed several pieces of audiovisual equipment in an effort to further disrupt the sitting by cutting the sound and internet access.
She reminded that Standing Order 47 sets out the authority of the Speaker in dealing with disorderly behaviour.
“…and whereas the named members brought the image of the National Assembly of Guyana into disrepute at a level never witnessed … before on such a shameful example, by elected representatives to the public and particularly the young generation. Be it resolved that this National Assembly expresses the unwavering abhorrence of such gross disorderly conduct, contempt and breaches of privilege which took place on December 29, 2021,” Teixeira told the House.
“Be it further resolved, Sir, that this National Assembly calls on the Privileges Committee due to the seriousness of these violations to act with alacrity and report in the National Assembly within one month from the date thereof,” she added.
Seemingly satisfied, Speaker Nadir committed the Motion to the Privileges Committee which is chaired by the Speaker and includes Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Education Minister Priya Manickchand, Culture Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson, Sanjeev Datadin and APNU+AFC MPs Roysdale Forde, Coretta McDonald, David Patterson and Nicolette Henry.
Opposition motion
The motion to send 22 government MPs before the Privileges Committee was submitted in the names of Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon and Jones. It names Privileges Committee members Phillips, Datadin and Ramson along with Teixeira, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame McKoy, Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development Anand Persaud, both Ministers of Housing and Water Collin Croal and Susan Rodrigues, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and his junior Deodat Indar, Human Services and Social Security Minister Vindhya Persaud, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, Jennifer Westford, Faizal Jafarally, Alister Charlie and Sheila Veerasammy.
In its motion, the Opposition said that “Members of the Government side engaged in and used abusive and threatening language and behaviour towards Members of the Opposition and that this conduct and behaviour was unparliamentary to say the least and violative of the privileges accorded to a member of this National Assembly.”
“… by their conduct, Members of the Government side have brought the Parliament of Guyana and this National Assembly into disrepute and invited public odium into the affairs of the Assembly; …it is (therefore) the belief of this National Assembly that Members of the Government side should be referred to the Committee of Privileges where their conduct and behaviour will be examined and appropriate sanctions recommended where appropriate,” it added.
While the opposition’s motion did not pinpoint a specific incident for their call to have government MPs disciplined, the government side did isolate the chaotic behaviour of December 29, 2021.
Back in December, the Opposition was loud in their protests to derail the passage of the Natural Resource Fund bill but even Ferguson’s attempt to seize the mace from the chambers did not succeed. Since the attempt to cart off the mace, the government has been calling for the Opposition to be disciplined and Speaker Nadir has since promised to do exactly that.
Inserting himself
During an interview with Stabroek News last night, Jones accused the Speaker of inserting himself in the motion and ruling unfairly.
“He said to me then that he has to now review the footage from the parliament to determine if the allegations which were made in the motion are substantive. So the one thing I shared with him is when he was in his seat and Dr Ashni Singh was making his presentation, all of the members of parliament were standing on their feet and that in itself is a violation of the standing order and our motion speaks to that.
“He doesn’t even need to question it because he would remember that regardless of who started it we were all standing and in the motion as well it spoke to threatening language and so our motion was properly put,” Jones said.
He explained that the motions were sent to the Clerk at 7:55 pm Sunday night but he subsequently realized there was a mistake and resent the motions later that night. The Clerk then contacted Jones sometime after 11 am yesterday and informed him that the motion was submitted on the Leader of the Opposition’s letterhead and would have to be resubmitted. That was done around 11:40 am.
“The Clerk received the (resubmitted) motion with no letterhead. So what happened is that the Clerk must have said to the Speaker a subsequent update was sent last night and that is what was on the letterhead. The Clerk was supposed to submit the updated motion without the letterhead and the Speaker used that as an argument and when I went to him just now he said no we are past the letterhead which the letterhead was never an issue because the motion was properly put,” he contended.
Jones told Stabroek News that based on the Standing Orders he should have been allowed to read the motion in the House and was hoping to do so after the break but that did not happen.
“In our view that itself is yet another conflict of interest and it brings the same question in terms of the speakership and the manner in which he conducts the affairs of the parliament. This motion is speaking to sending members to the Privileges Committee which the PPP has its members and the opposition have its members and we will put forward our evidence there and we would debate and argue and come to a conclusion there. It is that the Speaker inserted himself again on this issue and is essentially siding with the government by not allowing the motion to be sent to the Privileges Committee. It is the Privileges Committee where the determinations would be made and not by the Speaker,” he added.
Jones said they are of the view that the motion would be buried since tomorrow is budget day which will be followed by subsequent debates and consideration of the estimates.
“The Speaker has a role to play and the manner in which this current Speaker conducts the affairs of the House gives the impression that this is a PPP MP sitting there and that is problematic. It doesn’t lend to democracy, it doesn’t lend to transparency and accountability,” Jones argued.
