Speaker on appointment of Chief Whip:

HOUSE SPEAKER Barry Sinanan will be guided by the recommendation of United National Congress (UNC) Political Leader Winston Dookeran in the appointment of a new Chief Whip.

Sinanan made this very clear in an interview with Sunday Newsday yesterday.

“It is the Political Leader of the UNC who will appoint the Chief Whip and communicate (who it is) with me. The Opposition Leader has nothing to do with the Chief Whip (appointment),” Sinanan stated.

“Presumably the Political Leader will consult with whomever he has to consult with, and then inform me,” the Speaker said.

He added, “If he doesn’t inform me (of a new appointment), then the seat remains vacant.”

Sinanan said if it was the Opposition Leader’s call, “the (former) Chief Whip (Ganga Singh) would have been out a long time ago. But that has nothing to do with it.”

Told that Opposition MPs supportive of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar were considering sending communication to him with their signatures recommending the appointment of Hamza Rafeeq as the new Chief Whip, Sinanan said the position of the Chief Whip was a party decision communicated to the Speaker by the Political Leader, and not by the Opposition Leader, or members of Parliament. The decision of the Chief Whip remains the decision of the Political Leader, he stated.

Sinanan also defended his actions in Parliament on Friday which led to former Chief Whip Ganga Singh being allowed to speak at the expense of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Oropouche MP Roodal Moonilal. The UNC accused the Speaker of colluding with Singh and the PNM to breach the Standing Orders and to deny members of the Persad-Bissessar faction the right to speak.

Sinanan said all those charges were unfounded. He said the MPs should look at Standing Order 32 which states that the Speaker recognises the person who catches his eye.

“Singh was the first to jump up and I asked him if he was prepared to give way and he said he wasn’t,” Sinanan recalled.

Told that Persad-Bissessar and Moonilal claimed they had written notes indicating their desire to speak, Sinanan said, “Yes they wrote notes. But the Standing Orders say nothing about a note. Everybody could send me a note. But what they have to do is stand up if they want to speak.”

The Speaker said it was not the first time that MPs sent notes to him indicating they wanted to speak. But he said he had to operate strictly “by the book.”

“And notes have nothing to do with it,” he stressed.

Even when the note comes from the Opposition Leader? “The fact that it is from the Opposition Leader does not make a difference,” he replied.

Sinanan said he did not plan to become embroiled in the UNC’s internal affairs. This had been his position consistently, he said, and this is what he told the three members who came to him, asking for advice on how to move Singh.

“I told them they must sort out their own business. I will not be a party in assisting anyone (of the factions) in the Parliament. I will continue to operate according to the Standing Orders and the established practice of the House of Representatives.”