Speaker walks out of Nat’l Assembly

Feb 15, 2013 News

House Speaker Raphael Trotman

– Abrupt end to sitting, no date set for next session

By Abena Rockcliffe

Yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly came to an abrupt end around 21:00 hrs when House Speaker Raphael Trotman became peeved and registered his disapproval about the way members were conducting themselves by staging a walkout.
The last three parliamentary sessions have each seen a walkout being staged. The first such occasion was by the government when the opposition sought to extend the sitting past 22:00hrs, and the second was last week, when the opposition “excused” itself from Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee’s speech.
However, last evening’s was staged by the Speaker because of “grave misconduct” by members on both sides of the House.
Trotman walked out during a speech that was being delivered by the Junior Minister of Finance Juan Edghill. At the time, Edghill was contributing to the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2013 piloted by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament and shadow Minister of Finance Carl Greenidge.
Before walking out, Trotman continually pleaded with members to allow each other to deliver their presentations uninterrupted. He was stern against both sides about continuous heckling.
Trotman even announced during the session, before the break at 19:00hrs, that he had been approached by several members of parliament for an early adjournment “because of the nature of the day.”
Under Standing Order 47(9), the Speaker can at anytime suspend or adjourn the sitting without question on the call of grave disorder.
Late last year, when the opposition had banged on the tables of the National Assembly demanding that “Rohee cannot speak,” Speaker Trotman had called for order – a call that wasn’t heeded by the opposition – and subsequently opted to adjourn that sitting.
After Trotman’s walkout last evening, it was expected that the Deputy Speaker would have taken up the mantle, but that expectation was nullified by the fact that all members merely followed the Speaker’s lead.
Uncertainty surrounds when the Assembly will be reconvened as the chief whips didn’t meet.
Last year, this newspaper had reported that it costs the state 1.7M per sitting.