Moonilal’s constituents want Speaker to resign

Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George should resign for alleged heavy handedness towards Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal, said the MP’s constituency executive in a statement signed by chairman Milton Matura.

The executive met in emergency session on Sunday to agree a statement on the issue.

This comes days after Annisette-George, at Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, raked Moonilal over the coals for implying that she was biased after she denied him leave to debate, as a definite matter of urgent public importance, the sale of fuel to Aruba which was then allegedly sold to Venezuela. The matter, the Speaker ruled on April 27, did not qualify under standing order 17.

Venezuela is under sanction from the United States which said it will take action against any country doing business with the South American country.

Moonilal, in a letter dated April 28, wrote to US Ambassador Joseph Mondello telling him about the fuel sale and complaining about him being shut down by Annisette-George in the Parliament.

On Friday, the Speaker started Friday's sitting with a statement that slammed Moonilal's behaviour. She said he used social media and writing to foreign authorities to distort the rules of the House. Moonilal’s action was described as egregious, intolerable, beneath the dignity of the House and tantamount to contempt. He was called upon to apologise.

When contacted for comment, Moonilal said he was not afraid of the Speaker and accused her of attacking him and his constituency. He said he was not in the House when the statement was made, but subsequently received a copy of it and referred it to his constituency executive for the members to determine what to do.

Matura said the executive met on Sunday and decided that the Speaker must go.

“It is highly regrettable that on the 75th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in World War 2, TT heard an expression of dictatorship from one of the highest offices in the land.”

He said the Speaker’s “inflammatory and autocratic” statement undermined her office which ought to be politically detached.

“The unwarranted attack on our elected MP is most tragic.”

Saying Moonilal has an unblemished record of public service, the executive said the Speaker should not make political statements under the rubric of announcements.

“Whatever the Speaker's view of our MP’s decision to write the US authorities to indicate he raised a matter in Parliament, and that the Opposition is not part of or support the violations of international sanctions, is a political matter in which the Speaker has no place.”

The executive alleged “an arbitrary and repressive tirade” against Moonilal by Anisette-George, allegedly displaying no balance and objectivity.

“If the Speaker has a modicum of decency left she must resign particularly in the aftermath of the bombshell revelation of Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar which implicates her (Annisette-George’s) husband in an international fuelgate scandal in breach of global sanctions.”

The executive questioned her record on impartiality and independence.

“She has demeaned her office and lost the regard of a majority of Trinidadians and Tobagonians. The Oropouche East constituency of UNC deplores Ms Annisette-George's tyrannical statements and calls on her to resign as Speaker.”

The executive said their constituency supported Moonilal who must continue to fight for transparency and good governance.