Gordon Robinson | Behind every dark cloud ...

Yet again the nation’s parliament, purportedly where currently overpaid members are required to “make laws for the peace, order and good government of Jamaica”, was converted to a puerile poppy show.

It all began with an unfortunate slip of the tongue by Mark Golding. In so characterizing his indiscretion I’m being as kind as I can because it sure sounded much worse. The Budget Debate, allegedly the nation’s business, had been progressing well with two excellent presentations (one a tad long). Mark himself started well enough and seemed almost at the end of what I considered his best Budget presentation yet when he fell down a very wide, clearly visible and easily avoidable rabbit hole:

“When the former Speaker was forced to resign as a result of an Integrity Commission investigation, the move to replace her with the wife of the prime minister, so that the head of Parliament is now the spouse of the head of Government, doesn’t sit well with the tradition that the Speaker must act independently of the Government of the day.”

Despite subsequent attempts by Mark and sycophantic PNP trolls to spin this into a structural “conflict of interest” concern his actual words make it clear beyond peradventure that his basis for disqualifying the Speaker was solely that she was PM’s wife. It seemed obvious to me that Mark was at least inferring Juliet is the type of wife for whom pillow talk would instruct the performance of her duties as Speaker. He referred to her marital status TWICE in this short excerpt.

First up, there was no “move” to replace the former Speaker with “the wife of the prime minister.” The former Speaker was in fact replaced, without any campaigning or movement, by the MP for East Rural St. Andrew.

The Constitution provides:

“When the House of Representatives first meets after any dissolution of Parliament, and before it proceeds to the dispatch of any other business, it shall elect one of its members, not being a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary, to be Speaker; and whenever the office of Speaker is vacant otherwise than by reason of a dissolution of Parliament, the House of Representatives shall, not later than its second sitting after the vacancy has arisen, elect another such member to fill that office.”

Any member of parliament who isn’t a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary is qualified to be Speaker. Fullstop. Period. End of Argument!

Much has justifiably been made of the fact that the Leader of Opposition Business seconded her nomination in Parliament. This is now being creatively spun as “tradition” continued by Philip Paulwell on the Clerk of the House’s instruction allegedly by way of presenting him with a prepared statement. Mark Golding then went out of his way to make himself look like a naïve, greedy, self-indulgent fourth former by Billy Buntering (look him up) the fa(c)t he wasn’t in the House when Paulwell seconded the nomination. After muting the TV in disgust, my weak lip reading skills had him squealing “Not me sir!”

This won’t be the first time Golding has thrown a team member under the bus when social media winds made it convenient in pursuance of his oft-expressed expectation of becoming Prime Minister. Remember the MP salary increase flip-flop from Julian’s original full throated support?

Then (Julian) and now (Paulwell), team members swallowed their pride and followed the leader. How many more times….?

But it’s not just that Paulwell seconded on the Opposition’s behalf. The entire House (Opposition included) applauded her elevation with thunderous desk banging. Then, AFTER she was installed, Paulwell contributed the following:

“We wish you well, we generally want you to do well, so that your tenure can be very successful.”

PNP Chairman Angela Brown-Burke addressed the new Speaker:

“Let me also add my own words of commendation to you assuming the chair.”

Tradition? I don’t think so. No “tradition” can make sincere representatives of the people second a nomination then congratulate the successful nominee if their Party believes the appointment “doesn’t sit well with the tradition that the Speaker must act independently of the Government of the day.” So, Mark, it was “tradition” that made your senior MP support something that goes against “tradition”?

Give me a flipping break! Sounds like a different type of tradition to me. Listen to Topol as Reb Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof:

And who has the right, as master of the house,

to have the final word at home?

The Papa, the Papa! Tradition!

Why is Mark seemingly trying so hard to earn the lowbrow nickname inappropriately given to him by Nigel in 2023?

No Speaker has ever been independent of Government. Constitutionally, a Speaker cannot be a MEMBER of Government. A deeper understanding of Constitutional principles will establish that a Speaker, in the discharge of his/her duty, must be fair. That’s it. That’s all. So this unseemly peeping into the PM’s bedroom was immature, unnecessary and egregiously inflammatory.

It definitely inflamed. Watching the soap opera unfold I said to myself “Self, haven’t you seen this somewhere before?” Yogi Berra would say “this feels like déjà vu all over again.” At first, he seemed to be taking it calmly enough. But, as Mark went on (and on) it seemed to me PM realized he was heading home later so prepared his defences by becoming enraged. He was muted but seen shouting at Mark. Far more expert lip-readers than I have interpreted his words to be “Low! Desperate!!” But my insignificant lip-reading talents read “Take my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!”

Then he stood up and, for a moment, my heart stopped as I apprehended he might cross the aisle and slap Mark. Instead, he gathered his papers and stormed out of the House in a huff. Ok. So far; no prob. That’s a good husband protecting his position at home by protesting petty, puerile belittlement of his wife. Parliament’s work (and PM’s marriage) could continue apace. But then, one by one, Parliamentary majority sheep packed up and followed him out thus endangering proceedings.

With only 12 Opposition MPs and the Acting Leader of Government Business (who appeared to waver) remaining, Deputy Speaker read the Standing Order that provided quorum numbers and that any member who objected would trigger an adjournment process. On cue, Standing Order Guru and Minister of Political Warfare, Everald Warmington, re-appeared to hurl verbal abuse at the Opposition and alert Deputy Speaker to the lack of quorum. He did so from the doorway not from his seat. Still Deputy Speaker accepted his objection and, after following protocol, adjourned the sitting.

Instead of taking his time to calm down, think things through and take input from his team as to how best to react, Mark proceeded to turn a traditionally vital contribution to a serious parliamentary debate into a street corner political spot meeting by completing his speech on the Duke Street sidewalk.

Sigh.

Lookie here. No matter how low the Opposition goes (and this was very low) Government doesn’t have that luxury. It must go high. The business of Parliament oughtn’t to be disrupted or interrupted for anything but the most egregious parliamentary infringement. Childish insults aimed at PM’s wife don’t approach that standard. Firstly, PM should’ve signalled to his team “I’m gone. You stay.” If not, the team should’ve known not to follow him. But there was a third opportunity to do the right thing.

Even after sleeping on it Nigel Clarke was on radio Wednesday morning blaming the Opposition for the quorum deficit. According to his ultra-sensitive defence of Government’s indefensible thwarting of the people’s business, the Opposition only had 12 of 14 members present to hear their leader’s contribution. If everybody (including a below par Peter Phillips and a disillusioned Hugh Graham) had come, then with Babsy and Warmy that would have been a quorum.

This is unmitigated, unparliamentary, unseemly nonsense! It’s also an arrogant, irrational abdication of Government’s duty to Jamaica.

Nigel KNOWS Government members were necessary, regardless how many Opposition members were present, in order for there to be a quorum. That’s why he counted Babsy and Warmy in his ridiculous finger-pointing charade. The Deputy Speaker gave majority MPs five minutes to let cooler heads prevail. During those five minutes, instead of Babsy trying to negotiate a one-sided settlement, Andrew, Horace and/or Babsy ought to have selected four majority backbenchers to return while the others continued to register their protest. By that method, it would be a win-win for Government. Instead they chose to play paltry politics with Jamaica’s Parliament.

This latest round of tit-for-tat small-mindedness only establishes that, in Jamaican politics, behind every dark cloud there’s a darker cloud.

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com