…Trotman maintains Speaker took correct procedural steps

In light of the unprecedented chaos created in Parliament during Monday’s sitting of the National Assembly, the Government side of the House feels that the Opposition displayed grave disrespect for the Speaker of the House, Dr Barton Scotland.
Natural Resources Minister and Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Raphael Trotman said he has never witnessed such behaviour in the Parliament before and regardless of the differences the Speaker has always been shown respect.
“Whenever a Speaker has invited a member to sit, be quiet or refrain or withdraw; that has always been complied with. We have set a new precedent today and some may say we have descended to a new low,” Trotman said while providing his views on the situation.
Trotman, who served as Speaker of the National Assembly in the previous Parliament, said that from all indications the Speaker took the correct procedural steps. He noted that it was left up to the Clerk of the National Assembly in this case, Sherlock Isaacs, to decide if he believes that the Sergeant-at-Arms is incapable of enforcing the Speaker’s ruling to invite the Police in.
“I would also like to say that none of us would like to see chaos erupting further in the House, and I think we have enough of it. At the end of the day, the parliamentary style we practice is one where the Speaker is the presiding officer and that presiding officer must be shown respect and the dignity of the House has to be maintained,” Trotman told media practitioners in the halls of Parliament.
Meanwhile, in providing a comment on the issue, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said it was a matter of the legality regarding the instruction given by the Speaker and the MP’s refusal to act on that instruction.
“It’s a question of the rule of law. The Speaker is the person who controls the business of this House and he cannot, Mr Edghill or no other member of the House, decide that they will violate these rules of the House by refusing to take action when the Speaker tells them to do so,” he stated.
The Minister claims that no one shows respect for the Speaker’s rulings anymore, and he believes that the Speaker is entitled to do what he wishes to keep the House in order and the MPs in line.
Business Minister Dominic Gaskin also had his views to share. He described the situation as “obnoxious behaviour” from the Opposition during a sitting and claimed that it was the second time that it has happened in the Parliament.