Speaker, Opposition Leader clash on Standing Orders
It was during yesterday’s April 18, 20 sitting of the House when the Speaker, seen by many as biased in favour of the National Democratic Party, sought to caution the Leader of the Opposition.
She argued that the notice by the Government came under 27 L of the Standing Orders, meaning that it is not an item of business that the House would not have had knowledge of it before. She said in order to deal with that item of business it is moved and seconded and then the question is put.
“This is what we have done in the past,” she said.
However, Honourable Fraser argued that the question is put after the debate, unless he was “missing something.”
According to the Speaker, the procedure is one that has been done “two or three times in the past.”
It's up to the House- Speaker
The Honourable Leader of the Opposition said during the Second House of Assembly he had moved a motion to have a document laid on the table debated in the House. “I was forced to take my seat and before i could sit down someone else got up, seconded the motion and just kept talking,” he said.
In response, the Speaker said that there is the question of whether the House wants to interrupt its usual course of business to deal with the matter and then continue.
She said too that it is a matter for the House to decide whether they want to deal with the matter “here and now” or whether the members want to come back having had proper notice and then it would go through the normal process.
“Madam Speaker that is not the way I understand it. I see this as part of the normal process,” he said, noting that the member who brought the notice, in this case the Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith, would be in a position to debate it being knowledgeable of it.
But the Speaker, after going through the technicalities of the provisions of the Standing Orders, said, “You cannot come with a motion without notice and expect to have a full fledged debate and then all of the other things get pushed back to some later time.”
Following this brief exchange, the question was put and the motion carried, opening up the floor for a debate on the motion with regard to the notice of a loan to the BVI Ports Authority.
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too damm bias