UPDATE: Order Paper questions struck down again!
Hon. Fraser a former Communications and Works Minister under the Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal OBE led Virgin Islands Party Government sought clarification from the Speaker, Honourable Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe as to how he should approach the matter of getting his questions to go on the Order Paper.
Hon. Fraser said he received a note on (April 21, 2013) which stated, “I am directed by the Speaker to inform you of Standing Order 17:2 whereby ten questions that were not allowed on the Order Paper of [April 4, 2013], will not be allowed on the order paper of (April 25, 2013).”
The note further stated that questions for both the Premier and Minister for Communications and Works would not be allowed on the order paper for the current sitting of the HOA on the basis of the same section of the Standing Orders.
Hon. Fraser, in quoting Standing Order 17:2 stated, “If the Speaker is of the opinion that any question of which a Member has given notice to the Clerk infringes the provisions of any Standing Order or is any way an abuse of the right of questioning, he may direct (a) that the Member concerned be informed that the question is out of order, or (b) that the question is in the order book with such alterations as he may direct.”
Hon. Fraser said he was not questioning the authority of the Speaker, but rather was making the point that he had asked before about the specific area he had infringed in relation to the Standing Order, and did not receive an answer that he could understand; as a result, he therefore re-presented the questions for the sake of clarification.
“In order to avoid having this in the future Madam Speaker (me putting them on the Order Paper), I’d like to know what it is that I am looking for, so that I can know exactly when those questions can re-appear on the Order Paper or re-appear before you, for placement on the Order Paper, and that is my quandary; I’d like to have that resolved.” Hon. Fraser said.
Speaker of the House, Hon. Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe stated that she recognised the District Representative’s quandary, but stated the same reasons for the omission applied as were stated previously.
Hon. Fraser indicated that he would like to know specifically so that he could amend his questions to avoid any conflict with the Standing Orders, “I don’t know exactly which one of the Standing Orders of subsection 17:1 I’m infringing in your opinion.”
According to the Speaker, Standing Order 17:2 (a) states; If the Speaker is of the opinion that any question of which a Member has given notice to the Clerk infringes the provisions of any Standing Order, or is in any way an abuse of the right of questioning, he may direct (a) that the Member concerned be informed that the question is out of order, or (b) that the question be entered in the order book with such alterations as he may direct.
She noted that this also takes into consideration section 17:1 which refers to the contents of the question.
The Speaker then further clarified that the questions were omitted as she felt there was an abuse of the right of questioning, “based on the circumstances that exist” that she was aware of that were in place both then and now. “Until such time as the situation changes,” the Speaker said, “then I will advise you otherwise.”
“Hon. Member for the Third,” she added, “we can always sit down to have a discussion outside of this sitting which we’ve done in the past.
See previous story posted April 4, 2013:
HOA Speaker takes umbrage to speculations on confidentiality
- Third District Rep unhappy about questions being excluded from Order Paper
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Speaker of the House of Assembly, Ingrid A. Moses-Scatliffe, while acknowledging that several of the Third District Representative’s questions were omitted from the Order Paper during today’s sitting of the House of Assembly (HOA), expressed that it was her prerogative to do so.
Opposition Member and Third District Representative Hon. Julian Fraser, RA stated today, April 4, 2013 during the seventh sitting of the second session of the second House of Assembly that he was unhappy that several of his questions submitted for Ministers of Government in the HOA had been omitted.
“Madam Speaker, as I’ve been given the floor, I crave your indulgence to make the observation that the questions appearing on the order paper are not at all representative of my submissions,” Hon. Fraser stated. “They represent less than thirty percent of my submission to the clerk, I had submitted a total of 14 questions to the Premier and Minister of Finance but only 5 are placed on the order paper.”
The Member further stated that a question directed to the Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool was also omitted. He then indicated to the Speaker, “given that those were very important questions” he would be most pleased if he could be assisted in avoiding a similar pitfall in future by being enlightened about the line of thought involved.
The Hon. Speaker then replied, “… I repeat to you what was indicated to you prior to the Order Paper being finalised and actually being dispatched to Members, so you were fully aware prior to you receiving the package with the documents and the questions and prior to this morning’s sittings of the reasons for those questions not being on the Order Paper…”
She then quoted from Section 23:2 of the Standing Orders which stated that any notice of motion which has been received by the Clerk, infringes the provisions of any Standing Order or is in any way out of order, he may direct that the Member concerned, be informed that the notice of motion is out of order or that the notice of motion be entered in the order book with such alterations as he may direct.
The Speaker then addressed Hon. Fraser and noted, “the Standing Orders as I’ve just read, gives the Speaker the final say as to what appears on the Order Paper.”
The Speaker expressed that she complied with the relevant sections to ensure that Hon. Fraser was appraised and also told the Member personally of the amendments instead of having the Clerk do so.
“Based on my assessment of the questions,” the Speaker stated, “a determination was made not to have them included on the Order Paper in this sitting.”
Hon. Fraser acknowledged the Speaker’s statement but said he wanted to ensure that the reasons told to him previously still stood.
He then said, “what I’ve heard on the street, was something totally different, I consider your word today to be the official reason, albeit that I disagree with your reasoning Madam Speaker…”
Perhaps offering additional insight into her reasons for omitting the questions under discussion, the Speaker then said, “… as you mentioned’ the word on the street’, I just like to take the opportunity that there is quite a lot of information on the “media”, information that I find personally troubling because it’s information that concerns the sitting of the House, information that is presently being presented to the House, but the information is in the public domain.”
The Speaker said she only wanted to make the comment because of the Member’s mention of ‘on the street’. “I have a responsibility and obligation to preserve and to maintain the integrity of the House and based on information that I am privy to and based on what I have seen, I make a determination as to what I think is appropriate to be brought to the House at any particular time.”
She also noted that there would be instances where inclusions may not be appropriate at a specific time, but there would be other times when an opportunity would arise for the matters to be addressed.
“What bothers me Madam Speaker, is when someone could tell me… in detail what transpired between a conversation between you and I, and it’s not just simply saying that my questions were omitted, but [she] could tell me what they were and that troubled me,” Hon. Fraser then stated.
He continued, “I am not at all happy at this particular point. I don’t know who to vent my frustration with and how, but I am not happy.”
The Speaker later related during a particularly terse exchange between the Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool and Hon. Fraser in the question and answer segment of the sitting, that she took umbrage to Hon. Fraser's allusion that she was not confidential in her dealings with the HOA’s business.
“Yes I understand that you’re aggrieved that part of your questions didn’t go on the Order Paper,” the Speaker said, “but I take umbrage in you insinuating about confidentiality on my part as well as the fact that the sitting is ongoing…”
The Speaker quoted from the Standing Orders about proper conduct in the HOA then said she respected all Members of the House and would expect that the Members would return this respect.
Continuing with the sitting, the Speaker said, “I would encourage members to abide by the Standing Orders and please exercise respect within the Honourable House of Assembly and we have a responsibility to ourselves as well as to the listening public to conduct ourselves in a fit and proper manner to achieve the objective for what we are here for.”
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53 Responses to “UPDATE: Order Paper questions struck down again!”
GoonSquad (OJ) you cant get over the cut a$$ Fraser put on you yet?
It is now clear to the world that she did not. She was bias towards the government. What about those questions that was wrong to put on the Order Paper, except to cover-up for the goverment?
GoonSquad; DarkVader; Nonsense and all your othe aliases (OJ). Hon Fraser cut your a$$ so let it rest. Do like Claud, concentrate on raking in some doe and keep the family together.
Take some advice here. Play the tapes of the House of Assembly sessions and examine your behaviour! Listen to your voice, observe your tone when dealing with members of the Opposition, especially, look at your body language, zero in on your tone. You won't be happy with what you see. At time I wonder if you think that you are contending with little street boys! Check yourself, Madam. You are not doing well at all.
I see nothing wrong with the bahavior or the body language of the Speaker. If they act like children, then she will talk to them like children. For grown men, they should display a better attitude and not that as a child. Frazer especially..when he cant get his way he tell li%^& in the house and display the actions of a child who did not get his way. If I was the Speaker, I would have told him "GO SIT DOWN!!" I bet they could not bring those actions in the house when the other lady was Speaker. Hog know where to root..She is doing a great job and sometimes I think she is too nice to the opossition.
Please contact a lawyer who is capable of writing the questions in such a way that the Speaker cannot reject them. The people MUST have the answers to the questions you would like to pose. Please keep at it and don't drop the ball.
Get legal assistance!
Cant you see she cant say what the reason for not putting them on the Order Paper is?