Speaker sends brawl to privileges committee

House Speaker Barry Sinanan yesterday ruled that a prima facie case for a breach of privilege had been made out by both Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley, and Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma, against each other over an altercation which took place Wednesday. Sinanan referred both complaints to the Privileges Committee of Parliament for “full investigation and report.” The Speaker, who gave his ruling just before the adjournment of Parliament, stated that having regard to the publicity the incident has generated, its potential to bring the House and all its members into public ridicule as well as its potential to erode the dignity of Parliament and Parliamentarians, he found it difficult to dismiss the matter. He added that the fact that the alleged incident took place in the precincts of the Parliament — the Members’ lounge — just before a sitting of the House, placed it solidly within the jurisdiction of the House.

Sinanan said the issue of an alleged physical assault was, however, a completely different matter and one which may more properly be the preserve of the criminal law of the State. “This notwithstanding, for the Member to be physically attacked while on his way to attend a sitting of the House is a flagrant contempt of this House,” Sinanan stated. Noting that privilege was a group of rights or rules designed to enable the legislature to function properly, Sinanan said molesting or threatening a member, blackmailing or frustrating a member in ways that impaired freedom of speech and action, or holding up a member to public ridicule to such a degree as to hinder his performance, were examples of breaches.

He said the law of Parliament stated that any person who obstructed, insulted or otherwise sought to prevent members from conducting their duties in the precincts of Parliament, or when going to or departing the House, may be held to be in contempt of Parliament. “And indeed insults offered to members on their way to or from the House have always been deemed high breaches of privilege,” he noted. He said such insults could emanate from strangers or could originate from the lips of MPs themselves. “This is why Speakers, including this Speaker, have repeatedly warned members not to allow banter in the Chamber to get out of hand,” he said. Sinanan said that while the fistfights and boisterous scenes which have characterised many representative institutions abroad have never occurred in Trinidad and Tobago, the use of unparliamentary expressions, disorderly conduct, unacceptable cross talk and tumultuous debates had recurred within recent times with disturbing regularity in this Parliament.

Sinanan said MPs were expected to set the pre-eminent example for the wider society, which takes a cue from its leaders. “This is especially important and most urgent in the context of the breakdown in the social order, the polarisation of the two major ethnic groups, and the brutality which is permeating so many layers of our society,” he said. He added that MPs should seek to unite the country for the greater good of all, rather than to divide it for some unknown, ill-conceived and misplaced objective.