‘We have a major problem with the HoA’ - Hon. J. Alvin Christopher
There have been many incidents where Members of the House of Assembly (HoA) have lied to the public, used indecent and unparliamentary language, insulted each other and members of the public, broken the rules (Standing Orders) of the House and recently one member was accused of witness tampering, a crime in a civilian court that can land one to jail.
Last week the House of Assembly’s Public Relations Officer Linton V. Leonard announced a Sitting for 2nd September 2014. However, hours later another announcement came out notifying of its postponement until “further notice.”
No reasons were given for the abrupt postponement however, the same day of the notice was the same day Leader of the Opposition veteran Politician Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal OBE fired off a letter to the Speaker of the HoA Ms. Ingrid A. Moses about the illegal adjournment of the Eighth Sitting of the Third Session of the Second HoA, sine die when a quorum was lost during a recess.
The decision to adjourn was taken by Acting Speaker at the time Honourable Deloris Christopher (R5).
Hon O’Neal in his letter to the Speaker of the HOA dated August 27, 2014 and obtained by this news site said, “the matter was reviewed and research conducted and nowhere could I find a basis in the Standing Orders of the HoA or Erskine May which supports the action taken. I have also consulted with my colleagues and they have all corroborated my findings.”
Speaking exclusively to this news site yesterday August 31, 2014 from his home in McNamara, on the main Island of Tortola Leader of the Opposition O’Neal confirmed that he was notified of the adjournment, but was not given any reasons, “I received a letter saying that the Notice of the Sitting had been withdrawn”.
The Leader of the Opposition also confirmed his letter to the Speaker on his protest about the illegal adjournment of the HoA where in his view that the last sitting was to have remained in recess, because there was no legal stating for the re-entry of the Mace into the Chambers on account of the said lack of Quorum.
Speaking to this news site Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) said he supported the position of the Leader of the Opposition, but said he does not expect them to admit it was because of Hon. O’Neal’s letter that caused Government to postpone the Sitting but said “wisdom prevailed which would seems that it was as a result of the letter.”
Houston, we have a problem with the HoA- Hon. J Alvin Christopher
Representative for the Second District Hon J. Alvin Christopher said that the last sitting was adjourned unconstitutionally and it is now a challenge on how to move forward.
“We have a problem with the House of Assembly, a major problem. How do we now go from here to convene a sitting that is constitutional? The Standing Orders should guide us,” the Leader of the Minority Party in the Opposition the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) told our news site.
Hon. Christopher, himself the second longest serving member in the current HoA said, “when the Standing Orders go silent we have the Erskine May Parliamentary guidelines for all Commonwealth Parliaments to be guided by.”
He said that it is more than 10 days since the last sitting on August 14 and as a result, the House cannot go back into that sitting again. “We already gone past the time that the rules permit,” he said.
“The Eighth Sitting is not finished,” he said. “The challenge now is to find a legal way forward. I have a couple of ideas but I haven’t discussed them with anybody yet. I will be looking at the rules and verify what the rules say,” the PEP Leader told our news site.
Meanwhile, the Speaker dispatched a letter through the Clerk to all members dated August 25, 2014 inviting the members to attend a Meeting on Thursday September 4, 2014 at 10:00 AM at the HoA office conference room on the 2nd floor of the Richard C. Stoutt Building.
According to a Government Minister of the National Democratic Party who spoke to this news site off the record, he expects the issue of the next Sitting to be raised there.
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