THE SPEAKER DOES IT AGAIN

The country is again questioning the competence of the Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie.  Mr. Moultrie you may recall was the centre of a resolution to condemn him as Speaker when he excluded Glenys Hanna Martin from the House of Assembly.  The comments about him were not very pleasant but the Government used its authority to protect him.  He promised he would do better but each day he gets worse and it is clear now why it took him so long to pass his bar exams.  He just doesn’t get it and he doesn’t have the temperament for the job. Last week on Wednesday 6^th March he stopped the Opposition from putting on the order paper a notice to debate the mid-year budget statement of the Government.  He had no authority to do it but he did it.  When the Opposition walked out as he did so, the press then turned on the Opposition as if they were to blame for what the Speaker did.  The Speaker’s actions look more and more idiotic every day.

Here is the official statement by the PLP’s Leader Philip Davis on the issue:

From the Leader of the Opposition

On the Speaker’s Refusal to lay the Notices for Future Meetings by The Opposition

For Immediate Release

6 March 2019

At the end of today’s session of the House, at the time for notices for future meetings, the Speaker refused to allow the tabling of the notice of the Opposition to oppose the statement on the Budget. 

The intent of the notice was to invite debate on the midyear budget statement in the proper venue of the House of Assembly, not in Town Hall meetings by the Prime Minister where the minority’s voice is silent.

This makes a mockery of the state’s assertion that today’s notice by the Opposition was frivolous and vexatious because the Prime Minister himself is embarking on a circus tour, using public funds,  to engage in a one man debate on the subject matter.

This action by the Speaker was high handed, inappropriate and is yet another example of how the Speaker of the House does not recognize his role as an arbiter and not to be  in the fray of the debate. He continues to demonstrate that he is not fit for the office.

Rather than engage in the charade being played out in the House on this matter, my colleagues and I left the House. We will return afresh on the adjourned date.