Speaker under fire

The Opposition continued to give House Speaker Barry Sinanan trouble, refusing yesterday to ask all nine questions on the Order Paper which were filed by them because Sinanan had changed the wording of one question.

That question was put by Hamza Rafeeq, Caroni Central MP, who rose to protest that the question appearing on the Order Paper “only remotely resembles the question I posed”. “Are you prepared to ask the question in your name?” Sinanan asked. “I am prepared to ask the question I submitted, Mr Speaker,” Rafeeq replied. Sinanan repeated the question, eventually asking it four times, only to have Rafeeq give the same reply.  During this period, Ramnath prodded. “Don’t ask it! That is dictatorship! The Speaker can’t change a question,” he told Rafeeq. “Let who make the question ask it,” Chandresh Sharma chimed in. Sinanan moved to the next question, but the next two questions were also put by Rafeeq, who continued to refuse to ask any questions. The two questions which followed were filed by Sharma who, when called upon by Sinanan to ask his question, proceeded to read the newspaper. Then it was Manohar Ramsaran’s turn to ignore Sinanan as he filed the next question. Then it was back to Sharma and Subhas Panday, who asked the last two questions. Government ministers, Senators Danny Montano and Rennie Dumas, who came prepared to answer questions, appeared to have  wasted their time coming to the chamber.

As Clerk of the House Jacqui Sampson proceeded to other items on the Order Paper, Opposition members grumbled. Ramnath shouted: “This is unprecedented in this House!  Anyway, my Parliament is Monday night on radio when I tell you all where to get off!” The UNC has a public meeting in Sangre Grande on Monday. The Speaker is empowered to amend questions and it has been the practice for Speakers to alter questions to ensure that they do not infringe any standing order. And according to parliamentary experts, it has been consistently done by Trinidad and Tobago by all Speakers. The first stage of consideration of any question after it is submitted by an MP is the Clerk of the House, who makes proposals for adjustments, if he/she considers the question to be out of order. The proposals then go to the Speaker who can make further amendments to the question or can rule it out of order. The Opposition’s refusal to ask nine questions means that they would now be struck off the Order Paper.