Hon Vanterpool warns of 'rocky road' ahead in HoA
In his speech during the Seventh Sitting of the First Session of the Fourth House of Assembly (HoA) on October 17, 2019, Premier Fahie was at the time speaking on the need to have a stronger Opposition that could hold the government accountable when he mentioned that some of the now Opposition members, while in power, became a law unto themselves.
"The House of Assembly (HoA) plays a key role here to keep the Government accountable and make sure that the ministers and the cabinet are not overstepping their powers in implementing policies," he said regarding questioning.
Hon Fahie continued, "This is welcomed by this government and I want the people of this territory to compare, our current actions of openness with the many... closed episodes of those in the Opposition, who for the past eight years become a law unto themselves and not to the people."
War of Words
Immediately following the Premier's statements and just as Hon Willock was about to speak, Hon Vanterpool challenged the Speaker on whether the Premier's words and accusations that the Opposition had been a "law unto itself" was acceptable in the House.
Hon Willock responded, "The Premier made a statement, the House has listened to the statement... Thank you Premier for your statements," right before he was interrupted again.
Hon Vanterpool this time moved to accuse the Premier of imputing improper motives over his statements made in the house and he questioned whether that was now an 'order' in the House, for future reference.
"In my humble Judgement, I have not regarded what the Premier said as imputing improper judgement, so with that said, I thank the Premier for his statement" the Speaker replied to shut down the argument.
'Rocky Road' - Hon Vanterpool
My Vanterpool in firing back said, "You have basically, Mr Speaker, endorsed the fact that the Premier called members over... that we're a law unto ourselves and you as Speaker is endorsing that," he said.
"I want to make sure it is clear because if this is the route we're going down, it can get rocky... a rocky road in the House of Assembly... and I hope we are not corrected in the future for that," he said.
Speaker Willock moved to clarify whether threats were being made in the House; however, Hon Vanterpool apologised that his statement be not interpreted as disrespect.
Premier Fahie, in his statement, had underscored that unlike the Dr D. Orlando Smith led National Democratic Party (NDP), his government was opened to questioning in the name of transparency and good governance.
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