Parliamentary Digest

House Speaker Barry Sinanan has a hard job. For at least three hours every week, he must sit and listen to members of the House of Representatives talk and, no matter what the topic is, not only stay awake but, what is even more difficult, appear interested.

(Sinanan’s counterpart in the Senate, Dr Linda Baboolal, does not even bother with this second task.)

Last Friday must have been especially hard on Sinanan, since the Bills presented were “An Act to amend the Financial Institutions Act, 1993” and “An Act to give effect to the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Caribbean Examination Council.”

To make matters worse, the speakers on the first Bill were Junior Finance Minister Conrad Enill and St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran. But the second Bill was the kind that would have tried even Job (of Biblical, not Tobagonian, fame) too high, presented as it was by Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift.

Sinanan must have therefore felt some relief when, 100 long minutes into the session, Tabaquite MP Dr Adesh Nanan rose to speak on the latter Bill. Ever since Nanan came to the Lower House, the Government Mps, particularly Leader of Government Business Ken Valley and Diego Martin East MP Colm Imbert, have taken a mischievous delight in baiting Nanan.

The game is to throw comments while Nanan makes his contribution. If he throws backs a comment, you get one point; if he appeals to the Speaker for protection, you get two points; if he loses his train of thought, you get three points; and if he not only loses his train of thought but goes completely off topic, you win.

The Bill which Gift had presented was intended to ensure that representatives of the CXC council were accorded the same status as diplomats, so they couldn’t be harassed or arrested by local law enforcement officials while transporting their exam papers from island to island. But Nanan, a former Education Minister as well as a former Tourism Minister, was concerned.

He brought up an incident where a Trinidadian High Commission, apparently living up to his title, was arrested for drunk driving. Nanan also raised the issue of the discovery last year of the cocaine found in a diplomatic pouch of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. And, referring to the Vienna Convention on diplomacy, he noted that it said quite clearly that “the diplomatic bag shall not be opened” and that couriers would have similar protection. It was not clear, however, if Nanan was arguing that CXC examiners should or should not be given the same privileges.

Much of Nanan’s contribution was taken up with reading out clauses from the Convention. As he did so, Imbert threw remarks, until Nanan said plaintively to the Speaker, “The Member for Diego Martin East is trying to distract me.” He then added, somewhat paradoxically, “But I am reading from a document. He cannot distract me.”

Speaker Barry Sinanan responded to Nanan’s appeal, saying, “You are a very seasoned speaker, you won’t be distracted.” There had been a time when Sinanan had protected Nanan from the Government benches but now, when giving his response to Nanan, the Speaker often lives up to his initials.

But Sinanan wasn’t the only one giving Nanan basket.

Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath, who was sitting two seats from the Tabaquite MP, continually threw him encouraging comments.

When Nanan said that 100s of teachers could be accorded diplomatic immunity, Ramnath said, “You talk man, we listening.” When Nanan presented another equally absurd argument, Ramnath interjected, “Good point! Excellent.”

But, after 20 minutes, Valley could take no more. Nanan gave way to him, with Ramnath saying, “Stop provoking him.” Valley replied, “I’m not provoking him, I’m trying to save time.” He then pointed out that the Bill applied only to person outside TT, not within. But this did not faze Nanan.

“I’m shocked,” was his response to Valley’s intervention. Ramnath pounded the desk heartily. In fact, their interaction became so personal that at one point Speaker Sinanan rose and told Nanan, “If the Honourable Member for Couva South were here, I”m sure he would be as generous as I am to you. Please, address me.”

“Let me turn around, eh,” said Ramnath, who had been facing Nanan.

“Mr Speaker, are you trying to say that I am cokey-eye?” Nanan asked, drawing laughter from both sides.

Nanan’s total contribution lasted just under an hour, and he spent most of it talking about the education system rather than diplomatic privileges for CXC officials.

He rationalised this by claiming that the CXC Council deals with testing and assessment of students. As for the time taken — “I had calculated 45 minutes,” he told the Speaker, “and another 30 minutes in case they provoked me. But they didn’t provoke me enough, so I wouldn’t go the other 30.”

And even Gift, when he rose after Nanan to make the final contribution to the Bill, made his own little joke. “I have always found the representative for Tabaquite very entertaining,” he said, “and he didn’t disappoint me today.”