Opposition Leader: No hard feelings against President, Speaker

After a heated exchange between Speaker Brigid Annisette-George and Opposition MPs during the sitting of Parliament on Thursday, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she held no ill will for either the Speaker or the President.

During the First Extraordinary Sitting of the House of Representatives, the microphones of several Opposition MPs were muted when they interrupted the Speaker several times.

During the sitting of both Houses of Parliament later on Thursday, opposition senators also voiced their dissatisfaction with proceedings.

The sittings were held to vote on a motion filed by the Opposition to remove President Paula-Mae Weekes from office.

Persad-Bissessar, during a media conference at her Charles Street, Port of Spain, office, described the muting of the microphones as an attempt to muzzle the Opposition.

She said despite the uproar in both Houses of Parliament, she did not have any personal grudge against Annisette-George or Weekes, but instead blamed the Prime Minister.

"Why is the Prime Minister hiding beneath the petticoats of these ladies? You have compromised their offices.

"Be man and man up. You are the centre of this crisis, Prime Minister, man up to it and don't push the ladies in front of you.

"You have the President there, push her in the front to take the fall. You had the Speaker: now the poor lady was so beleaguered now you could see it on her face on questions on the process.

"Where is the Prime Minister? Sitting there for over three hours, not a word did he say while battering was taking place on these women. I condemn him for that."

She added that the disagreement may not affect other aspects of parliamentary business and stressed that the Opposition was not pleased with the way the sittings were conducted.

"We take, as the Lord tells us, one day at a time, but with respect to those proceedings today...we were participating under protest. because the guidelines issued unilaterally by the Speaker are illegal.

"That is why, in that process today, we believe that the way in which the debate was to be conducted was illegally done. That may not necessarily impact on other days of the parliamentary proceedings. We have the ordinary standing orders that will inform behaviour on those proceedings."

Persad-Bissessar also accused Annisette-George of breaching the rules of the voting process by not allowing a secret vote in the Parliament.

Citing the Legal Notice 187 of 1976 on the roles of the Electoral College, Persad-Bissessar argued that members would be more inclined to vote on the basis of their conscience if the voting was held in secret instead of openly as it was done.