The House of Assembly was suspended yesterday with the government having no success in getting a resolution passed to give Holy Cross Member of Parliament Sidney Stubbs a three-month extension to appeal to the Privy Council against his bankruptcy order.
Following fierce and persistent objection from Opposition Members, Speaker of the House of Assembly Oswald Ingraham was forced to suspend the House until 10am today to give MPﾴs an opportunity to ﾓcool offﾒ.
It amounted to the most rowdy and explosive sitting of parliament for the year.
Mr. Ingraham appeared challenged for much of the afternoon to bring order to the House, having to suspend for 10 minutes at one point to allow tempers to ease.
Government officials had planned to pass that resolution last night during an emergency sitting. It is the second resolution they brought to extend Mr. Stubbsﾴ time to pursue an appeal. The last extension was granted in September.
Opposition Members argued yesterday that a key rule of the House was being abused in that they did not receive a required 24 hours notice of the resolution.
Former Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for North Abaco Hubert Ingraham insisted that if the House had passed the resolution last night, it would have been ﾓillegal and ineffective.ﾒ
ﾓIf the government chooses to pass what would in effect be a nullity, that is pass something that the House of Assembly is not empowered to do, it is entirely their business,ﾒ Mr. Ingraham said.
ﾓBut the government had enough time to be able to cause the House to meet and to give notice to members, not to have the chief clerk show up to my house at 10pm last night to come to a meeting this afternoon.ﾒ
He added, ﾓThe government knew today was the 23rd [meaning Mr. Stubbsﾴ time was about to expire] but they dillied; they dallied; they danced; they did all manner of things other than do their job. The job was to come up with their resolution.ﾒ
The oppositionﾴs objection to the resolution being brought yesterday was actually led by Opposition Leader in the House of Assembly Alvin Smith, who insisted that the government cannot use its majority to abuse the rules.
Other members, including Montagu MP Brent Symonette, High Rock MP Kenneth Russell, and Lucaya MP Neko Grant, also joined the charge.
But Prime Minister Perry Christie and other government members were strong in their position that nothing illegal or abusive was taking place.
ﾓThere is no attempt to exploit or bring in new rules or new practices into this debate,ﾒ said Mr. Christie, who added that, ﾓthis is no place for yapping hyenas or vultures, Mr. Speaker.
ﾓThis is not a place where there is unregulated, spontaneous and ad hoc debate or decisions. I presented to Mr. Speaker that in the sovereign parliament of The Bahamas, or Australia, or New Zealand, or Jamaica, or Trinidad, there rests with the Speaker – our having passed a resolution at the beginning of this session – the power to summons a parliament on the premise, Mr. Speaker, that there is an overriding concern by the Speaker that this is in the publicﾴs interest to do so.
ﾓIt means, Mr. Speaker, that if some terrorist act happened out there and they blew up something and we wanted to resolve, notwithstanding the dissenting members, that the country would take a certain position, nobody in their right mind would say when they are faced with an emergency that we have to wait 24 hours for that. The public interest logically demands that the Speaker has the discretion, upon notice being given, notice has been given, that a resolution be debated today.ﾒ
But Opposition Members insisted that this was not a matter of public interest nor an emergency.
Attorney General Alfred Sears explained that, ﾓThe Constitution makes very clear provision that the Speaker may exercise a certain discretion to determine whether a person whoﾴs pursuing an appeal, has an appeal filed, or who clearly anticipates filing an appeal [be given] a reasonable opportunity to have an appeal determined by a court of law.ﾒ
Mr. Ingraham, the House Speaker, also read a letter addressed to him from Mr. Stubbs.
ﾓI should wish to humbly request that you bring to the attention of the Honourable House of Assembly my humble request for a further extension to complete the hearing of my matter and also to enable me to pursue my appeal at the Privy Council,ﾒ the letter said.
Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
