Govt tells Mark and Ramnath to apologise

GOVERNMENT yesterday called upon Opposition parliamentarians Wade Mark and Kelvin Ramnath to apologise to their respective Houses of Parliament and the national community for their blatant disrespect of Trinidad and Tobago’s democratic institutions.

In a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Government said it was very concerned about “the deterioration of standards” in Parliament, and this was aptly highlighted by Mark and Ramnath’s actions last week in the Upper and Lower Houses respectively.

The first instance saw Mark launch a verbal assault on Government Senator Danny Montano while in the second, Ramnath challenged House Speaker Barry Sinanan to suspend him from Parliament. Government said while it understood tensions could arise during the mildest sittings of Parliament, it could not condone behaviour that “threatens the harmony and democratic institutions of Trinidad and Tobago.”

“We call on the Opposition to respect the nation, its Parliament and the democracy that we practise in Trinidad and Tobago,” the Government said. Government urged the Opposition to use persuasive argument to advance their cause, and said some members of the UNC “are quite downcast” over their behaviour.