UNC threatens Parliament boycott

THE OPPOSITION UNC angrily walked out of the House of Representatives during the early hours of Thursday and are threatening a total boycott of Parliament. The walkout occurred around 2 am after the Government voted against extending the speaking time of Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma. This took place during debate on a motion to adopt the Second Report of the 2003/ 2004 Session of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, on proposals for the Supplementa-tion and Variation of the 2004 Appropriation. Approval of this motion would allow Government to spend $644,805,338 more than it catered for in the 2003-2004 Budget.

Responding to the Oppo-sition’s threat to boycott Parliament, Leader of Govern-ment Business, Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley said the ruling party was unconcerned and would “proceed with the people’s business.” Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday described Govern-ment’s action as an “indication of dictatorship” and said he was not prepared to give the PNM any more power. Panday said the UNC would meet in caucus at its Rienzi Complex, Couva headquarters on Wednesday to decide whether or not it should boycott further sittings of both Houses of Parliament. Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh said Govern-ment’s actions were “a frontal attack” against Sharma’s fundamental rights and decades of parliamentary tradition in TT.
               
“It is an attack on democracy and we will not participate in the undermining of Parlia-ment,” Singh declared. He explained all MPs, unless moving a motion, are granted 45 minutes speaking time with the option of 30 minutes extension. Only movers of a motion in Parliament can speak for a total of 75 minutes if they wish to do so. Singh also claimed House Speaker Barry Sinanan failed in his duty to guide Minister Valley on this issue. Asked whether any UNC boycott of Parliament would include both Houses, Singh said he was almost certain the 16 Opposition seats in the Lower House would be empty, but was not too sure whether the UNC’s six senators would also join the boycott. Sharma said he prepared extensively for the debate and his contribution was making the PNM uneasy. “Government has a lot to hide,” Sharma claimed.

Panday said he was not worried about charges that the UNC was not serving its constituents since they (constituents) knew otherwise. Asked to explain the vote against Sharma, Minister Valley said the Speaker had to repeatedly caution Sharma about being irrelevant during his contribution. The Minister said given the lateness of the hour, Govern-ment felt it was unreasonable to grant an extension of speaking time to Sharma. Asked why debate on this motion (which began 2 pm on Wednesday) ran into the wee hours yesterday, Valley said when Parliament resumed at 5.10 pm after adjourning at 4.30 pm for tea on Wednesday, every Opposition MP wanted to speak and those who did were making comments unrelated to the motion.

He explained that Standing Orders 69 (2) and 70 (1) clearly stated that parliamentarians speaking on motions of the Lower House’s Finance Com-mittee must confine their comments to the motion at hand. On the possibility of a UNC parliamentary boycott, Valley said all members had the option of not attending sittings of Parliament but parliamentarians in the Lower House would be disqualified if they miss six consecutive sittings without excuse, and by-elections would subsequently be held to fill those vacant seats. The motion was passed moments after the Opposition’s walkout.