Reducing Parliament to a circus

It appears as if they, that is the Government side, are either going through a period of forced detention in Parliament, having other more important matters to conduct outside of the House or adjourning early for an after-work Friday lime on Ariapita Avenue. This is how the people’s business is being subordinated by the red and ready.

Last Friday’s much anticipated sitting of the House was shambolic. The Minister of Finance apparently having been forced against his will, and shall I say against his political judgement that is a recurring rarity, reluctantly moved a motion to remove FATCA from the remit of the House Committee and be referred to a JSC.

In my view FATCA was no longer under the radar, possession and purview of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole.

The committee had concluded its work on the Bill with finality, having approved the amendments. It dissolved its ad hoc role on December 12, 2016.

The Speaker as committee chairman thereafter, now had custody of the Bill. She was then authorised to report to the plenary of the House and place the amended Bill back where it belonged.

The circus continued with the mover of the FATCA motion, Finance Minister Colm Imbert using verbal and non-verbal language/tantrums not only to hide and sublimate his embarrassing climb-down for having wasted the time of Parliament on the 9th and 12th of December last in the worst, non-productive, arrogant, and fruitless display of going-italone on a Bill that could go nowhere without Opposition acquiescence. That four-page pull-out on FATCA in the print media on amendments was wasteful.

It also appears that there was a virtual conspiracy between the Speaker and the Finance Minister to jointly and individually disrespect and embarrass the former Prime Minister and now Leader of the Opposition when the latter made spurious and distasteful allegations of non-existent absurdity against her.

As for the Speaker, even though there was ample time in the sitting to accord and allow the two important motions moved on Matters of Urgent Public Importance relating to the Petrotrin strike and the crime pandemic (second time) the requisite one hour each, she chose to reject again the crime motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition. Instead she opted to give the Petrotrin industrial impasse undue precedence even though she knew before-hand that the FATCA matter was going to be exclusively procedural and short.

In fact the House adjourned prematurely early at around minutes after 4 pm even though the Gambling Bill was up for discussion as if to freeup members to attend to their Ariapita Avenue lime.

STEPHEN KANGAL CARONI