Opposition legislators suspended after mace thrown out of Parliament

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC): Six opposition legislators, including Opposition Leader Michael Pintard, have been suspended from two sittings of the parliament for the role they played in last week’s scene when the mace was thrown out of the chamber.

Last Wednesday, the deputy leader of the main opposition Free National Movement (FNM), Shanendon Cartwright, threw the mace out of Parliament, forcing the Speaker Patricia Deveaux to order his removal.

Cartwright had protested the decision of the Speaker not to allow Pintard to address the controversy surrounding allegations in a United States indictment that members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) were involved in drug trafficking.

The Speaker, in denying the request, had explained that it was against House rules, but Cartwright stood and shouted, “Let the people speak”, before he marched to the Speaker’s table, grabbed the mace and threw it out after several attempts to ram the window open.

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, who is also the leader of government business, moved a motion to suspend Pintard, Cartwright, Kwasi Thompson, Adrian White, Adrian Gibson, and Iram Lewis.

The suspension came after St Barnabas MP Cartwright threw the mace out of a window last Wednesday in frustration over the Speaker’s failure to clarify whether Pintard would be allowed to address explosive allegations in a US federal indictment.

Speaker Deveaux described last Wednesday’s uproar, in which opposition MPs were also forcibly removed from the House, as an unprecedented and deeply troubling breach of the decorum and respect required in House proceedings.

“We cannot in one breath be lawmakers and then, in the very same breath, become law breakers. What message are we sending to our children and the public at large?”

She said the opposition’s actions were disgraceful and a blatant disrespect for the chair’s authority.

She referred the matter to Munroe for further determination, and recommended it be sent to the Committee of Privileges for a thorough investigation and appropriate action.

“The sanctity of this House must be preserved. Let this incident serve as a reminder of our collective responsibility to uphold the dignity, integrity and authority of this institution.”

Pintard regarded the move to suspend the opposition legislators as an effort to silence them, and vowed to continue fighting and speaking up on behalf of the Bahamian people.

“We will go to government ministries. We will be back on Bay Street. We will send letters to the editor. We will be on talk shows again, putting pressure on an administration that does not want openness, transparency and honesty with the Bahamian people,” Pintard said.

But Munroe said the opposition was responsible for their punishment and accused them of trying to create their own rules and have their way.

“That’s not the way the system works. The system works that the Speaker is in charge. You respect the rulings of the Speaker. The public has seen this before. (In the) Last administration, members of my party were named and put out of the House.”