NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Tempers flared in the House of Assembly yesterday with both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly lashing out at party leaders.
A shouting match between Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly Don Saunders and Opposition Leader Philip Davis saw the Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP escorted out of Parliament during the evening session.
Davis rose to his feet to take issue with Saunders’ treatment of Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin, who was seeking to raise a point of order but was asked to stand down.
The Opposition Leader was denied but refused to sit down and got into a shouting match with Saunders, who stood to his feet several times to ask for Davis to be escorted from the Lower Chamber.
Hanna-Martin opted to leave with him in solidarity.
Outside the House of Assembly, Davis said the opposition will not allow the deputy speaker, the speaker, or the government to silence opposition members.
He labeled the circumstances of the House — his removal from the evening session and the frequent clashes between Moultrie and the Minnis administration, as dysfunctional.
“Obviously they are on edge, and it is not me, it is them whose nerves are frayed,” Davis said.
“From this morning we could see what is happening in this Parliament, the Parliament in effect is almost dysfunctional now.”
“The deputy speaker crossed the line,” he added.
This was the second interruption to House proceedings for the day.
During his morning contribution, Moultrie once again lambasted the executive over its “hatchet plan” and execution of its response to the matter.
The speaker urged Minnis to address the matter immediately.
“I call on you to speak to the Bahamian people and give the government’s position on these matters, in particular, the matter at the Office of the Prime Minister on April 30. This hatched plan and execution thereof. The people deserve to know and have an answer with respect to that.”
The prime minister stood to his feet and attempted to lead the discussion to the debate of the day; however, Moultrie interrupted him and demanded that he speak to the Bahamian people.
“I’m not at that stage yet,” Moultrie said.
“I’m still at speakers communication. I’m calling on you Killarney to give an explanation to this Parliament and to the people of this country with respect to these issues…I am extending to you as leader of this country and the member for Killarney.”
When Minnis took to his feet again, he told Moultrie: “Mr. Speaker with all due respect, I’ve always been told that communications are not to be contentious and therefore I will respond to that at the appropriate time.”
Moultrie replied: “I don’t see the contention in this communication. I don’t believe I was contentious. I believe I laid out the facts as they were brought to me.”
Yamacraw MP Elsworth Johnson sought to intervene with the speaker by standing on a Point of Privilege but was told by the speaker that he had not been acknowledged and that he was “not yet finished dealing with the member of Killarney”.
When Johnson was allowed to take his feet, the Yamacraw MP attempted to defend the prime minister’s honor but was shut down for a second time.
Southern Shores MP Frankie Campbell also intervene and moved for the House to be suspended for 10 minutes.
Proceedings resumed more than 30 minutes later with no mention of the events prior to the suspension.
During the break, Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis and Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin walked over to Minnis and had a brief conversation.
Davis told members of the media outside of Parliament that he did not wish to share what that personal conversation was about.
Minnis, who walked over to the Cabinet Office following the morning sitting, told reporters: “I said what I had to say in Parliament”.
Playing games
Moultrie told media on Monday that “all issues” had been resolved between himself and members of the executive, following a contentious House meeting last week over the failure of the executive to act after the chief clerk was confirmed positive for the virus.
During his communication yesterday, Moultrie said while the matter of sanitizing Parliament and testing staffers had been addressed, “in the resolution of those issues, more disturbing issues developed”.
Moultrie claimed that after parliamentarians and House staffers were tested last week, there was no communication with himself or the clerk, who is in isolation, regarding the matter.
“The most disturbing part for me was to discover that certain persons were called and were notified that they were negative with no documentation attached, while other persons were called and informed that they were negative but that they should not attend work or this Parliament until the contact tracing process was complete,” Moultrie said.
“There again no one contacted the speaker or the clerk in respect to this process.
“Now one of the members of this staff was called in out of the quarantine that was established by the speaker and was told that she was protected because of the antibodies that developed in her system as a consequence of her having contracted the virus.”
The speaker questioned the procedure because the same staffer was advised last week to come to work, despite being exposed to the virus, and has subsequently tested negative for COVID.
“See, I’m concerned because we are dealing with COVID-19 and we cannot be playing games with people’s lives,” he said.
“…The level of disrespect and dishonesty is something that I am severely challenged with because we are dealing with COVID-19.”
Moultrie said the situation has resulted in the people who are “loyal to the speaker” being forced out of Parliament.
“We are dealing with COVID-19. We cannot appear or be seen to be functioning in this way,” he added.
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