NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Speaker of the House of Assembly Halson Moultrie said yesterday that the COVID testing of parliamentarians and staff members of the House of Assembly at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday morning was a “purely political” exercise intended on the government’s part to save face after it “poorly handled” a positive case of a House staffer earlier this week.
Moultrie said: “I was further convinced that it was a purely political exercise to do damage control and to save face when I discovered that the location (for testing) was at the prime minister’s office.
“Why in these circumstances would members of Parliament, and senators be required — and the staff of the Parliament, which is the legislative branch — be required to the prime minister’s office, which is the executive branch, to have free COVID test when it would have been easy to have it at Doctors Hospital, at one of the private labs or Princess Margaret Hospital.
“I did not participate; I did not attend because I believe and I am satisfied that it was a purely political exercise.”
He said the speaker should not be drawn into those activities.
The speaker said he has been tested and was awaiting the results.
As it relates to the positive case of the chief clerk, a second test will be taken to confirm his negative status before he is able to return to work.
Moultrie said he was advised that deep cleaning and sanitization would take place on Friday, but he could not confirm whether that had been carried out.
On Tuesday, the speaker confirmed a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 was reportedly symptomatic during last week’s parliamentary sitting and had been in contact with the entire staff throughout that time.
He, along with staff members, were expected to quarantine until May 2, but were present during Wednesday’s proceedings.
He said someone ordered the assistant clerk of the House to report to work.
The speaker said he contacted both Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Leader of Government Business Renward Wells, the Bamboo Town MP, on the course of action following the exposure, but was given no response.
He abruptly adjourned Wednesday’s proceeding, telling the executive the disrespect of his authority will not be tolerated and he is prepared to go to war.
Reflecting on the government’s handling of the matter, Moultrie said it was “poorly handled”.
He said: “I think that when the speaker, who is the head of the legislative branch, reaches out to the head of the executive branch, who is the prime minister, and the leader of Government Business in Parliament, the office of the speaker, an institution of the legislative branch demands a certain degree of respect and I don’t think that respect was afforded to the legislative branch or to the office of the speaker.
He continued: “What was really egregious was that the executive branch felt that they can contact persons who had been sent home on quarantine and request that they come into Parliament without even the courtesy of mentioning it to the speaker.”
He said he recommended to the prime minister that perhaps only the speaker of the parliamentary team should attend and seek a quorum to suspend proceedings until the Parliament had been sanitized and staff had been tested.
Of the testing exercise, the speaker said it compounded the disrespect to the Office of the Speaker. He said he was also not provided the courtesy of the testing.
“I received a call from the Cabinet Office at 6pm yesterday evening after having received enquiries from members of the House of Assembly, inquiring whether or not if they do not attend at the Office of the Prime Minister this morning to take the test, whether they would be permitted to enter Parliament on Monday,” Moultrie said.
“That was when I heard about it.”
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