UNC walks out again

THE Opposition UNC yesterday staged another walk out, this time during the sitting of the House of Representatives. Last Tuesday, a similar incident occurred in the Senate. The members’ actions were in objection of the suspension of the Chaguanas MP, Manohar Ramsaran, who was ordered to “withdraw” from the remainder of the sitting by Speaker Barry Sinanan, after Ramsaran refused to withdraw his “unparliamentary language” of calling Agriculture Minister Jarette Narine a “liar.”

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday later told reporters there was a plan by the PNM to “shut us up from speaking” but vowed to “do worse than move a motion of no-confidence” against the Speaker. Yesterday’s sitting of the House was moving along smoothly with Narine defending his Government’s actions against a motion by St Augustine MP Gerald Yetming, which asked the House to re-affirm its commitment to the elimination of discrimination. Narine was boasting of various training initiatives by his Ministry to assist youths, when he accused the UNC of “figuratively putting guns in youths hands” because the UNC government had shut down several programmes like On-the-Job-Training and Civilian Consevation Corps as well as Youth Centres.

Ramsaran accused Narine of being a “liar” repeating the accusation several times. The Speaker called on Ramsaran to withdraw the “unparliamentary language.” He stood for several seconds for Ramsaran to oblige, but Ramsaran defiantly refused saying he was not standing when he said it, and insisted that “only if he (Narine) was prepared to withdraw the lie, then I will do so.” As Ramsaran began packing, Panday voiced his objections saying it was nonsense and bias on the Speaker’s part. Panday acknowledged he was mad and he too began packing up. When Ramsaran stopped to chat with Princes Town MP Subhas Panday, the Speaker suspended the sitting for five minutes to “allow the member sufficient time to exit.” All other UNC members who were looking on and mumbling, followed their colleague outside.  When the sitting resumed, Narine was allowed to continue.The sitting was adjourned to April 2,Government Chief Whip Ken Valley said the UNC was just looking for something to complain about and were “trying to make the news, since there was no reason to walk out.”