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Rohee speaks, Opposition walks out of Parliament
After being restricted to his seat for months, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee was back on his feet again in the National Assembly yesterday despite the objections of the majority-controlled House.
With that decision from Speaker Raphael Trotman, the Members of Parliament from the Opposition walked out.
Minister Rohee was given his break to speak in the National Assembly when he requested to speak on the prevailing security situation in the country.
Back on his feet, but speaking to whom? Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee (at right) in the National Assembly yesterday.
Before walking out, the Opposition attempted to prevent Rohee from taking the floor.
Opposition Leader David Granger pleaded with Speaker Raphael Trotman but to no avail.
“If we can’t stand for something we will fall for anything,” Granger told the Speaker.
Member of Parliament Basil Williams made a similar request with a similar result. When opposition front-bencher Deborah Backer attempted to add her voice, the Speaker said he would take no more, and his ruling was that Rohee be allowed to speak and that was final.
The Opposition had moved a no confidence motion against Minister Rohee, saying he has failed to preside in an acceptable manner over the security situation in the country. That no-confidence motion was passed on July 30, last.
Based on that no confidence motion, the Opposition wanted Rohee blocked from speaking in the House. The Speaker had made a decision that since the matter of a member speaking in the House was one of Privilege, he would be referring the matter to the Privileges Committee.
The Committee of Privileges has been set up to determine what, if any, are the powers of the National Assembly to sanction a Member of Parliament, who is a Minister appointed by the President, for failing to resign following the adoption of a Motion of No-Confidence in him.
If the Committee does conclude that the National Assembly can sanction a member, it would then have to determine what sanctions, including preventing the Minister from speaking, are available to the National Assembly.
The Government took the matter to court, and Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang recently ruled that the National Assembly has no right to prevent any member from speaking in the House, but Chang stayed clear of ruling on whether Rohee could speak as Minister of the Government.
With that ruling and the matter still before the courts, the Speaker had decided that he would still convene the Privileges Committee of Parliament.
At that January 21st meeting, both the government and opposition agreed to abort the work of the Committee until the court proceedings are over. And so, yesterday, the Speaker said he would allow Rohee to speak, given the fact of the security situation at the time.
Granger argued that with the number of crimes being committed every day, Minister Rohee should be speaking every day.
Speaker Trotman rebuffed comments from the opposition that his decision to allow Rohee to speak was an overnight one.
Even in calling the privileges committee, the Speaker had said that he would not allow Rohee to introduce new Bills in the House, but would allow him to speak on security or any other matter he wishes to speak on. With the ruling, Rohee spoke to the Speaker, but mainly facing empty seats on the majority side of the House.
Once Rohee was done speaking, the Opposition Members of the House returned to their seats.
The Opposition Leader is arguing that while the constitution allows any member of the Assembly to introduce laws or propose motions for debate, the constitution also provides for the National Assembly to regulate its own procedure and may make rules for that purpose.
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