House passes motion to suspend eight APNU+AFC MPs for ruckus over passage of NRF law

Jul 23, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – Eight APNU+AFC Parliamentarians were officially suspended from the National Assembly for a list of parliamentary infractions. The eight opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) were suspended after a majority vote of the House in the wee hours of Friday morning.

The motion to suspend eight opposition MPs was tabled as a result of a decision made at the level of the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges following the ruckus which was caused in the House on December 29, 2021, during the passage of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) law.

Following deliberations of the committee, it was recommended that the Opposition MPs: Sherod Duncan, Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Viceroy Jordan, Annette Ferguson, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Maureen A. Philadelphia, and Tabitha Sarrabo-Halley be suspended from attending several consecutive sittings of the House.

On Friday morning, the Motion for the House to adopt the recommendations was tabled by Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira.

Opposition Parliamentarian and Attorney-at-law, Khemraj Ramjattan who also sits on the Committee of Privileges sought to stop the House from discussing and moving forward with the motion on the basis of a court action filed to prevent the suspension of the eight MPs.  The matter was filed in the High Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Ramjattan sought to convince the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir that given that the matter is now filed that it meant that it was sub judice [Under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion elsewhere] and could not be dealt with by the Parliament.

But the Speaker rejected Ramjattan’s view. He noted that instead, that matter is not an active one given that it was filed just hours before the motion was scheduled to be presented in the House.

“It was just filed…it has not been assigned to a judge or active in any way,” Nadir said as he ruled that the House must proceed with the business of dealing with the motion to suspend the MPs.

Meanwhile, in her presentation of the motion, Teixeira noted that the decision taken by the Committee of Privileges was one that is necessary for the maintenance of order and discipline of the House. She noted the chaos and disruption that ensued on the night of December 29, 2021, cannot be overlooked and those liable for the disturbance must be sanctioned.

The Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs asserted, “What occurred on the 29^th of December will go down in the history of our parliament as one of the worst images and reflections of integrity and behaviour of our elected officials in the National Assembly.”

Teixeira declared, “This level of collective vulgarity by the members on the opposition side of the house which is the APNU+AFC in this case, cannot be treated lightly …The committee felt in a review of the acts committed that if nothing is done, it could result in much worse occurrences, the committee felt that this is a terrible reflection of the National Assembly and a terrible example of the younger generation…  Mr. Speaker, we must take action.”

Deputy Speaker Lennox Shuman and Attorney General Anil Nandlall who are both members of the Privileges Committee supported the decision to address the parliamentary disruptions resulting in the seizure of the Speaker’s Mace on December 29, 2021.

In his brief remarks, Shuman noted, “We as parliamentarians cannot and should not condone such behaviours,” while Nandlall noted that the parliament has the innate responsibility to discipline its officers.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General agreed with the Speaker’s decision to have the motion discussed and voted on in the face of the court case which was filed.

Nandlall stressed the Court cannot be allowed to frustrate the business of Parliament.

The Attorney General stated, “Parliament, as empowered by the constitution, has the power to regulate its own affairs. Among the affairs which the Parliament has to regulate are the discipline, the conduct of members of the assembly, the process of the assembly itself, and the protection of the integrity of that process.”

The motion adopted by the National Assembly comes weeks after the Committee of Privileges released a report recommending the suspension of the eight persons.

Based on the report, MPs Annette Ferguson, Maureen A. Philadelphia, and Vinceroy Jordan would be suspended for six consecutive sittings for committing serious violations which were severe and egregious by unauthorisedly removing the Parliamentary Mace from its rightful position in a disorderly fashion, causing damage to the Mace, injuring and assaulting a staff of the Parliament Office, while attempting to remove the Mace from the Chamber.

Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, it was revealed, would be suspended for six consecutive sittings for unauthorisedly entering the communication control room of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre and destroying several pieces of audio-visual equipment, being public property.

The report recommended further that Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones, Sherod Duncan, Natasha Singh-Lewis, and Ganesh Mahipaul would be suspended from four consecutive sittings for conducting themselves in a gross disorderly, disrespectful manner, and repeatedly ignoring the authority of the Assembly and that of the Speaker, and thereby committing contempt and breaches of privileges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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