Opposition Parliamentarian, Annette Ferguson, along with seven of her colleagues who led a disorderly protest in the National Assembly during the reading of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) legislation last December, have been suspended from attending several consecutive sittings.
The other Members of Parliament (MP) who have been suspended are Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Sherod Duncan, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, and Maureen Philadelphia.
The disciplinary action was ordered by the Privileges Committee which considered a motion moved by Government’s Chief Whip and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira, on the disorderly conduct of the parliamentarians.
The Privilege Motion stated that the Opposition MPs attempted to prevent the second and third readings of the Natural Resources Fund Bill No. 20 of 2021, conducted themselves in a disorderly, contumacious, and disrespectful manner, and repeatedly ignored the authority of the Assembly and that of the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir, thereby committing contempt and breaches of privileges.
The Motion also named Members Annette Ferguson and Vinceroy Jordon as committing further breaches of privileges and contempt by forcefully removing the Parliamentary Mace from its rightful position in an unauthorized and disorderly fashion, causing damage to the Mace and injury to a member of staff of the Parliament Office.
The Motion further named Member Tabitha Sarabo-Halley as entering the communication control room of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre without permission and destroying several pieces of audio-visual equipment, being public property.
Furthermore, the Privileges Committee found that the named MPs were in violation of the Standing Orders and established customs regarding acceptable behaviour in the Assembly. It was therefore determined that an appropriate sanction would be suspension from service in the House.
As such, Jones, Mahipaul, Duncan and Singh-Lewis are suspended from four consecutive sittings, while Ferguson, Jordan, Sarabo-Halley, and Philadelphia are suspended from six sittings.
Back in December, the Opposition was loud in its protests to derail the passage of the Natural Resource Fund bill. But even with Ferguson’s attempt to seize the mace, the protesters were only successful in securing a disciplinary hearing before the Privileges Committee.
