Browne, Hislop: UNC claims against Government misdirected

LEADER of Government Business Dr Amery Browne and Government Senator Laurence Hislop have said the Opposition UNC is "misdirected" in its claims that the PNM is trying to undermine democracy.

Both men argued that those claims were more aptly directed towards the actions of the UNC, in and out of government.

They presented this argument in their respective contributions to debate on a private motion on parliamentary autonomy in the Senate on Tuesday.

Browne, a doctor by profession, diagnosed Opposition Senator Wade Mark (the mover of the motion) with "misdirected enthusiasm."

He countered that anyone listening to Mark could have been misled into believing that the UNC was the bastion of democracy.

Government senators thumped their desks when Browne said, "Nothing can be further from the truth. The UNC is one of the least democratic institutions in this country at this time."

He added that people only had to look at the UNC's track record in and out of government to see the party did not practice what it preached.

Browne told senators opposition MPs and senators had bullied their parliamentary colleagues during an October 2021 sitting of the Electoral College when Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar tried to move a motion to appoint a tribunal to investigate the removal from office of then president Paula-Mae Weekes.

That was in relation to events leading up to the collapse of the Police Service Commission in September of that year and its failure to send a list of candidates for commissioner of police to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Browne recalled that in November 2021, the Senate passed a private motion filed by Independent Senator Anthony Vieira, SC, to treat with the behaviour of opposition parliamentarians towards independent senators in the Electoral College one month earlier.

He said a check of Parliament's Hansard record will also reveal several instances where UNC parliamentarians breached Parliament's standing orders.

Browne told opposition senators, "It starts with example."

He challenged the Opposition to prove their respect for democracy was real by "demonstrating respect for the Parliament that we have now."

Referring to a previous contribution in the debate by Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, Browne said Government could not agree with Mark's call for a bill on parliamentary autonomy to be brought to Parliament in three months' time.

He added that Government, through Armour, has made it clear that more time would be needed to flesh out this matter and it was prepared to listen to all views on parliamentary autonomy.

Hislop wondered why in opposition, the UNC was always trying to plant the impression in the public's minds that the Government was trying to undermine various institutions.

He said the Parliament's records showed significantly more parliamentary committee meetings being held and reports being generated from those committees under the PNM than under the UNC.

Hislop declared, "There is a responsible government in place in TT. The Opposition needs to stop crying wolf."