Trotman must safeguard Rohee’s rights as an MP – Nandlall

The Committee of Privileges that was slated to meet Monday, to review whether Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had violated any of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly was abandoned.
Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall expressed the view that he believes “it is safe to conclude that Rohee will be allowed to speak in the National Assembly on the next occasion that he attempts to do so.”
The Legal Affairs Minister had dispatched a letter last week to the clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs, in which he called for the meeting of the Committee of Privileges to be “aborted permanently” or be “adjourned indefinitely”.
Minister Nandlall in the letter reminded the clerk, that the Speaker has said orally, that he would “not proceed with the matter in the Privileges Committee, unless and until the matter is determined by the Court”.
“A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) echoed a similar request, and therefore, the Speaker, I believe, had very little choice but to accede to the joint request of the government and APNU,” the Legal Affairs Minister reasoned on Monday. Nandlall stated that Speaker Raphael Trotman now has the responsibility of ensuring that Rohee is accorded the right conferred upon him as a duly elected MP.
He noted significant comments made by the Speaker when the meeting commenced. “If I interpreted him correctly, he said very clearly, that his interpretation of the Chief Justice’s ruling is that Minister Rohee has a right as an elected member to speak on any matter. So hopefully, one would expect that that would be given effect shortly.”
The parliamentary opposition has consistently within the past year, made attempts to force Minister Rohee to step down from his ministerial post through a ‘no-confidence’ motion in the National Assembly and public disturbances.
They have also charged that he gave direct instructions to police ranks in Linden in July which led to the shooting of three persons involved in protests in the mining town. Another motion was then passed in the National Assembly in an attempt to prevent the minister from speaking. The Speaker ruled against it, but the parliamentary opposition disregarded the ruling, and in an unruly spate of actions, drowned the minister out when he rose to speak, forcing the adjournment of the sitting.
The issue was taken to the courts by Nandlall and acting Chief Justice, Ian Chang recently ruled that Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has a right to speak in the National Assembly as an elected member.
In an attempt to force the issue, the opposition moved to the Privileges Committee, and the Speaker had said he would await the ruling of the court.