Speaker strikes down motion to sanction 22 Govt. MPs

Feb 01, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – A motion filed by A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), Member of Parliament (MP), Joseph Harmon, is seeking to have 22 members of the government side of the National Assembly sent to the Committee of Privileges, has been dismissed by Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir (right) and Opposition MP, Joseph Harmon.

Nadir gave the announcement as the session opened yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) for the first day of the debates in the Committee of Supply for Budget 2022.
According to Speaker Nadir, having perused the motion that was presented, he could only arrive at “one conclusion.”
To this end, he proceeded to explain that firstly the motion will not proceed because a ‘prima facie’ case had not been established.
He expounded further saying, “…you can’t bring a legal action, for your illegal action in the first place.”
As such, Speaker Nadir told Members of the House “…based on those two, I am not allowing that motion to go ahead.”
The motion submitted by Harmon had called for 22 MPs to be referred to the Privileges Committee for “Unparliamentary Conduct of Members of the National Assembly”.
The motion cited that during the sitting of the National Assembly on Wednesday, 29th December 2021, Members of the Opposition and Government ended up in a physical, loud and aggressive “face off” in the walls of the National Assembly.
Harmon further alleges that members of the government side engaged in and used abusive and threatening language and behaviour towards Members of the Opposition and that this conduct and behaviour was unparliamentary to say the least, and violative of the privileges accorded to a member of this National Assembly.
He noted that, “By their conduct, Members of the Government side have brought the Parliament of Guyana and this National Assembly into disrepute and invited public odium into the affairs of the Assembly.”
Harmon in his motion had called on the assembly to contend that Members of the Government side should be referred to the Committee of Privileges where their conduct and behaviour will be examined and appropriate sanctions recommended where appropriate.
Those identified in the motion are: Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Gail Teixeira, Anil Nandlall, Nigel Dharamlall, Kwame McKoy, Anand Persaud, Susan Rodrigues, Jennifer Westford, Mustapha Zulfikar, Sanjeev Datadin, Robeson Benn, Hugh Todd, Faizal Jafarally, Juan Edghill, Sheila Veerasammy, Vickram Bharrat, Joseph Hamilton, Alister Charlie, Charles Ramson, Deodat Indra, Collin Croal and Vindhya Persaud.
The dismissed motion was seconded by Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones.