APNU’s desk-banging protest silences Minister Manickchand

Apr 05, 2014 News

– as First week of Budget debate ends in chaos

The 2014 Budget debates last evening descended into chaos and Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman was forced to abandon the sessions until Monday.

Manickchand makes a point during the live broadcast as her colleagues look on.

While it was not the first bout of tension between the Government and A Partnership for National Unity, the Debates came to a screeching halt when Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, rose to make her presentation to the House.
The Alliance for Change, Members of Parliament left the sitting while APNU’s parliamentarians began banging on their desks loudly, effectively drowning out the Minister; effectively gagging her.
The APNU Parliamentarians could be heard chanting “apology, apology, apology” which went on for several minutes.
After Speaker Trotman failed to get the compliance of the APNU members to allow the Minister to make her presentation, he suspended the sitting.
He then met with the Chief Whips in an attempt to broker a solution but both sides stuck to their position.
APNU is demanding that Minister Manickchand apologize for a heckle she made during Volda Lawrence’s presentation and which was objected to by then Member of Parliament, Jaipaul Sharma.
Government is holding out that when Speaker of the House Trotman ruled on the matter it was concluded and as such the Minister must be allowed to speak.
During the suspension, APNU members were observed milling around while the Government side was observed in caucus, presumably to strategize their next move.
When the sitting was resumed by Speaker Trotman, he informed of the failed attempt to broker a solution.
He indicated also that he was of the opinion that the matter had been dealt with and as such the protest by APNU was against him as much as it was against the Minister.
Trotman then invited the Minister to make her presentation at which point in time the banging resumed.
When Government’s Chief whip, Gail Teixeira attempted to intervene on behalf of Minister Manickchand, the decibel levels in the Chambers increased exponentially as the APNU Members of Parliament began banging even louder.
The banging continued incessantly for several more minutes and each time the Speaker managed to invite the Minister to speak, the banging resumed to the point where Trotman was then forced to adjourn the sitting until Monday.
A team of Ministers and other members of the Government side immediately arranged for live broadcast where in a show of support for their colleague Minister, lamented what transpired.

Opposition members banging on their desks to drown out Minster Manickchand’s (standing) presentation.

Teixeira, in updating the nation through the impromptu live broadcast said the Opposition members through their actions, defied the ruling of the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Trotman had ruled that following a review of the video of what had transpired in the House when Manickchand made the heckle, he found that she was not making reference to the then sitting Member of Parliament, Jaipaul Sharma but rather she was speaking in relation to his father.
As such he ruled that the Minister would be able to make her presentation.
Teixeira in her broadcast, reminded that following the contentious heckle made by Manickchand, herself, the Minister and APNU’s Joseph Harmon met with the Speaker in order to broker an agreement.
She reported that it was agreed that the Minister would make a statement in the House, which she did but “apparently APNU, in order to try to protect themselves and save face with the departure of Mr. Jaipaul Sharma and the support of CN Sharma and his television station to the APNU are now trying to use Minister Manickchand and the Government as their whipping boy.”
Manickchand in her message during the live broadcast said that heckling was a common thing across the world and she was surprised that her action has attracted this much attention.
“I am shocked that the Opposition would try and shut down my right to represent the people of this country by trying to gag me…I am stunned that they would renege on their agreement,” according to Minister Manickchand.
She said that the public should seek to examine why the Opposition should put on such behavior given that two days prior, they were fine with her statement to the House.
The Minister said that what happened between the time that statement was made and now is that Jaipaul Sharma resigned from Parliament “and they have problems with that.”
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh used the opportunity to lament the fact that the Minister who oversees the largest allocation in the 2014 budget is being prevented from making her presentation.
He reminded the House that Manickchand’s place in Parliament is as a result of thousands of votes and as such being prevented by 26 persons from speaking “is downright bullyism and lawlessness.”