The main Parliamentary Opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) has moved a motion to the National Assembly to take several government Members of Parliament (MPs) before the Privileges Committee over the December 29, 2021, in-house protest it orchestrated, which saw the forcible removal of the Parliament’s symbol of Authority, the mace, and the assault of a parliament staffer, along with the alleged damage to communications equipment.
That motion, however, could not be entertained during the 35th Sitting of the Assembly this afternoon because it was formatted incorrectly.
“We received that motion this morning. Unfortunately, the motion to send members to the Privileges Committee was received with, or under the letterhead, of ‘Leader of the Opposition, Press Release’. The Clerk [of the National Assembly] and I spoke, and the Clerk informed the [Opposition] Chief Whip, (Christopher Jones) and that motion was resubmitted just over an hour before this sitting. As such, I did not have an opportunity to review the matters raised, and I want to assure the Honourable Member, Mr Jones, that it is going to be done expeditiously and we will deal with his motion,” the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir said.
Despite admitting that it removed the mace to halt the proceedings on December 29, 2021, the APNU+AFC is suggesting that the government MPs be penalized, citing “disorderly behaviour”
The Opposition has suggested the following MPs be taken before the Committee: Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira; the Prime Minister, Mark Phillips; the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall; Local Government Minister, Nigel Dharamlall; Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy; Junior Local Government and Regional Development, Anand Persaud; Junior Housing and Water Minister, Susan Rodrigues; Jennifer Westford; Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha; Sanjeev Datadin, Attorney-at-law; Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn; Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd; Faizal Jafarally; Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill; Sheila Veerasammy; Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat; Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton; Alistair Charlie; Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr.; Junior Public Works Minister, Deodat Indar; Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal; and the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud.
A motion was also submitted by the APNU+AFC, in which it said that it has lost confidence in the Speaker. Nadir said that the motion will “go through the regular procedures.”
