Joseph: Did Red House police know duties?

DID police officers in the House of Representatives last Friday need the direction of House Marshall Gilbert Hamilton after House Speaker Barry Sinanan ordered the ejection of Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma? Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, pondered this question at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference. Last Friday House Leader, Ken Valley, lashed out at officers who failed to eject Sharma, and their actions are now under investigation. Reporters asked Joseph if he was confident his officers would be able to act correctly if Sharma keeps his vow to return to the parliamentary chamber tomorrow.

Joseph admitted that concerns had arisen as to how well-prepared the officers had been to respond. “Now the precinct of the Parliament is a little different from the precinct of other places and as a result there seems to be some dual responsibilities. “On the basis of a preliminary report that reached me, the understanding is that there was an ‘indetermination’ as to whether or not it was the Marshall of the Parliament who was supposed to have been the trigger and/or whether or not it was on the basis on just an instruction from the Speaker of the House for which action needed to be taken. The jury is still out.” Joseph said he expects to receive a report on the incident today.