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Opposition begs for Edghill to attend Parliament
The Opposition, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) yesterday pleaded its case to have the Parliament Office lift the suspension against Bishop Juan Edghill to have him attend the next house sitting scheduled for Wednesday.
Edghill was suspended without pay after he disobeyed Speaker Dr. Barton Scotland to leave the Chamber during the considerations of the estimates for the 2018 national budget on December 11, last.
The following day, Edghill was suspended for four consecutive sittings when the House voted in favour of a Motion from Government Chief Whip, Amna Ally.
The PPP contended that the motion moved by Ally on December 12, 2017, specifically called for the suspension of Edghill from the business of the National Assembly until December 15, 2017.
In the first letter to Edghill, Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, indicated that Edghill is not entitled to attend sittings of the National Assembly or meetings of Parliamentary Committees, or enter the precincts of the National Assembly “until the termination of your suspension.”
The letter, copied to the Speaker and finance officials, made it clear that the MP during his suspension will not be paid salary and allowances; he is also not entitled to some of the other benefits as other members of the National Assembly.
According to the PPP, they were shocked to learn by way of another letter dated January 4, 2018 that Edghill cannot attend the sitting on January 10, 2018 due to a mistake made by the Parliament Office in calculating when the suspension commenced.
“The Speaker appears to have assumed the responsibility, not provided for, to interpret a Member’s motion,” the PPP stated.
It is the PPP’s view that Minister Ally’s motion included a date of when the suspension would come to an end which was December 15, 2017.
Bishop Juan Edghill
“Therefore, there is no doubt or ambiguity as to the commencement of the suspension at the sitting on December 12, 2017. If Minister Ally’s motion did not include the date of the conclusion of the suspension, one may be tempted to understand the need for the Speaker’s intervention to interpret the motion as to when the suspension began and ended,” the PPP noted.
Further, the PPP said that one must remember that on December 12, 2017 prior to the commencement of the adjourned of the 79th sitting, Edghill was prevented from coming to the Parliament Buildings and arrested at the traffic lights approximately 100 feet from the gates of the Parliament compound.
The Parliament Office wrote Edghill on December 12, suspending him for four sittings from the 79th sitting, the very sitting which Minister Ally brought the motion of suspension.
According to the PPP, the suspension was in effect on December 12.
During the start of the considerations of the budget estimates, Edghill clashed with Dr. Barton over the need to extend time for questions. The Speaker insisted that based on an agreement, the allotted time was fixed.
Edghill, after refusing to sit, was deemed out of order, and moves were made to eject him from the chambers. He refused and the police were eventually summoned. However, Opposition members refused to allow the police to remove him.
They formed a ring around him. After the ensuing confusion between police and the Opposition members, the day’s proceedings were suspended.
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