I fear that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has lost the confidence of many members to fairly conduct the affairs of Parliament. Last Tuesday and Wednesday were really bad.
For the main intent of the Government last week was to protect Andrew Wheatley and to frustrate discussion on the Petrojam scandal. “What scandal?” Delroy Chuck wanted to know.
Even the agenda for one sitting stated that the questions posed to Andrew Wheatley by Peter Bunting would be answered that afternoon as they were scheduled by the Standing Orders. Then the House leader, sounding more imperious than Governor Eyre hectoring the House of Assembly in 1865, declared, dripping with arrogance, that this was not to be so. Why? Because he said so.
This Government behaves as if Parliament is a committee of their Cabinet.
Naturally, the Opposition kept up the pressure. That is what they are there to do. Besides, the mess at Petrojam stinks! Paulwell, in mild tones, invited Speaker Charles to refer to the clarity of the very Standing Orders which he, same one, always invokes but then frequently breaches. He would not budge. In one fit of pique, the Speaker imputed bad faith, mumbling about a “plan” that the Opposition was pursuing to force the answers to questions. He had showed his hand.
So the mayhem ensued. The Speaker lost control several times as we all protested his unfairness and irascibility. Noticeably, this time, Charles did not receive the support of most of the members on the government benches.
Glenn Tucker, in his letter published June 29, 2018, titled ‘Dissing Speaker Charles is dangerous precedent’, argued that a worrisome precedent was set by the uprising against the Speaker’s ruling.
NO ALTERNATIVE
He is right in stating a general principle but wrong in Tuesday’s context. To have backed down, Bunting and the others would have been complicit in their own permanent emasculation to the detriment of national democracy. There was no alternative.
This Speaker exercises no control over government members. They can, and do, say anything and, as happened twice last week, often flout or reverse his decisions. He properly demands respect. Equally properly, he must show respect by his even-handedness.
After all, what could have prevented the minister of energy from coming before the House and, by ministerial statement or answers to questions, laid to rest the concerns of the nation. His reputation depends on his vindication of the principle of ministerial accountability.
If he knew about the antics of the Petrojam board, the hiring of the lady and the fuzzy contracts, he ought to have no difficulty defending them truthfully. If he never knew about some of the issues, as some claim, he surely could have found out about them by now and so could address them, too.
So why the delay, why the absence, why the reticence if, as the lugubrious Chuck insists, there is no scandal?
Instead of continuing as a festering carbuncle, the Petrojam issue could have been handled forthrightly on Tuesday afternoon in less than two hours. In the event, the matter diverted attention from three good presentations by Fenton Ferguson, Mike Henry and Morais Guy.
All of these treated serious policy questions that are exactly what Parliament ought to be discussing. If the House committees were functioning and if this administration were interested in listening to anyone but themselves, the content of all three could form the basis of good programmes.
Final point on last week: Please let us stop fooling ourselves regarding school contributions. Floyd Green tried hard to answer Colin Fagan’s question regarding required auxiliary fees in schools. The truth is that even with a little increased money from the State, schools cannot make ends meet. So every student, registering or continuing, has received a payment voucher and there will be insistence on compliance, no matter what the ministry says. It is they who have wrongly advanced the notion of freeness for all rather than for the most needy.
It isn’t working. Confidence lost is hard to regain.
-Ronald Thwaites is member of parliament for Kingston Central and opposition spokesman on education and training. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.