Opposition walks out of Parliament

OPPOSITION Members of Parliament yesterday staged a walk-out at the sitting of the House of Representatives, on a day devoted to them (Private Members’ Day).

Their action stemmed from the Deputy Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux’s refusal to allow Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath’s request to adjourn the House to debate the retrenchment of 10,000 daily and monthly paid Caroni workers. As a result of the 2.15 pm walk-out Government was able to pass seven Bills which required a simple majority. Ramnath, in making his request, said the Caroni retrenchment was of urgent and public importance because the it dealt with the principles of government and its relations between the State and citizens. Ramnath further contended that the issue dealt with significant sums of tax payers’ money to fund a policy without a plan,  equality of treatment, freedom from discrimination and the emotional and psychological trauma of the workers. However Bereaux said after careful consideration of the request, the motion did not qualify and ruled against the request saying it should be brought under Standing Order 11.

Ramnath stood his ground and refused to sit down, maintaining the issue was important. He was ordered several times to “take your seat” by Bereaux, but the defiant MP raised his voice louder than Bereaux’s and announced he was leaving and he had no intention of staying. In the ensuing chaos with raised voices, Ramnath pointedly stated that he wasn’t even going to take his off his jacket, in obvious reference to Bereaux’s stance a few years ago, when then Speaker Hector McClean ruled against a request by Bereaux to debate water problems in his La Brea constituency. Ramnath’s Opposition colleagues followed his lead and picked up their belongings and left the Chamber. Appearing reluctant to leave were the MPs for St Augustine and St Joseph, Winston Dookeran and Gerald Yetming. However within seconds of the departure of the other UNC MPs they too left. Bereaux then suspended the sitting for five minutes. When it resumed at 2.35 pm, Acting Leader of Government Business, Health Minister Colm Imbert, announced that in the absence of the Opposition MPs, he proposed that the sitting proceed with Government Business. The government MP’s agreed and they proceeded to deal with seven Bills, which were all passed. The House was adjourned at 3.45 pm. The UNC MPs at a press conference in Committee Room No 4, later told reporters that with the passage of the Bills, they didn’t think they had “played into government’s hands”.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, MP for Siparia, insisted it was merely a demonstration of government’s “bull dozing of the people”. She described their actions like that of a steam roller going through the Parliament. She added, “the Government does not care for dealing with the people’s business or matters of Parliament”. Asked if the walk-out was planned, Ramnath said he certainly didn’t plan it. He said the UNC couldn’t tolerate government’s high handedness especially on Private Members’ Day. He said it was his responsibility to articulate a major concern, which not only affected his constituents, but those of almost all of the UNC MPs except Yetming. He said he would not be re-filing the motion, because it would be a waste of time. He said he considered the Cabinet decision on the issue to be “a nefarious and diabolical plot to use politics to settle politics of the South and Central region”. Ramnath referred to a letter to a Caroni official from Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith, in which he said Saith instructed the official to proceed with the retrenchment. Ramnath said daily paid workers were to be retrenched on July 10 and monthly paid workers on August 2.