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‘Santa’ visits Parliament to give Jagdeo Oxford Dictionary
…incident seen as serious breach of security
Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland watches as ‘Santa’ is restrained upon entering the Parliament chamber
A woman attired in full Santa outfit entered the Parliament Chamber on the top floor of Parliament Building in a failed bid to present Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo with a gift of an Oxford English Dictionary for Schools during the debate on the 2018 budget yesterday.
The incident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. during Jagdeo’s presentation and after the Government Members of Parliament (MPs) had staged a walk out. With a bell in the right hand and an Oxford Dictionary in the other, ‘Santa’ entered through the eastern door of the chamber shouting, ‘Merry Christmas’.
Seen as a satirical political move, the intention was obviously to disrupt Jagdeo’s contribution to the budget debate, and to ridicule him over the misspelt placard which he waved during the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s protest inside the Parliament during the President’s address at the 71st sitting last month.
The ‘Santa’ was restrained just at the door by the Acting Sergeant-at-Arms with the help of another Parliament staffer.
Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs told reporters that the woman was escorted down the stairs and through the back gate by ‘a stranger’. According to Isaacs, the door which the woman used to gain entry to the Chamber is restricted to Parliament Office staff, MPs and their staff.
“Apparently the person came in properly dressed and changed her clothes in the MPs bathroom. The person did not come through the gate dressed in Santa’s uniform. All of that was done inside of the building,” Isaacs stated.
He said the security had no idea who was disguised as Santa. The person was escorted from the chamber, down a flight of stairs, handed over to an unknown person and through the back gate facing Hadfield Street. Isaac stated that it is against protocol to use the back gate.
“What I was told by the police at the public buildings is that a stranger snatched the person and whisked her out quickly out of the compound…The Sergeant at the Public building stated that he was running and shouting to stop the person from taking the person out,” Isaacs noted.
The intended hilarity of the incident has escaped Parliament Office. Instead, this highlighted major gaps in the plans to maintain safety at the public building which is barricaded and manned on the outskirts by police.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have security cameras [in the building] and we are moving towards that,” Isaacs admitted. During the sitting of Parliament, the upper floor is usually patrolled by security detail attached to the Prime Minister and Government Ministers.
He stated that Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton Scotland will convene a meeting of the Parliamentary Management Committee to discuss the incident.
“Nothing like this ever happened before,” Isaacs stated.
Jagdeo was undeterred by the incident and continued his presentation which lasted over three hours.
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