On the House meeting of 17th June, 2005, parliamentary history was made when the UDP stormed out of the National Assembly after the Leader of the Opposition threw a cup of water to the floor. The UDP was angry because the Speaker had adjourned the session abruptly after the Prime Minister and the member for Mesopotamia had a heated exchange. At the next meeting, the UDP asked to table a motion, which argued for the removal of the Speaker. The Speaker refused to hear the motion at that time and the Opposition walked out of the House again. Today, they were assured the motion would be heard, and for that to happen, the Speaker had to sit out the debate over whether she would keep her job. That meant Deputy Speaker Valdemar Castillo had to sit in and he recited the motion, here's how it all went.
Hon. Valdemar Castillo, Acting House Speaker
"Therefore be it resolved that this Honorable House hereby condemns the said actions of the Speaker, call on her to apologize to the member for Mesopotamia and the House, and further call on her to assure the House that she will not in the future seek to stop any members' speech or terminate a House sitting except for good and sufficient cause and in strict accordance with the standing orders of the House."
Hon. Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader
"On that occasion, in our view, it was clearly a misstep on the part of the Speaker to require the Honorable Member for Mesopotamia to give over his private documents to the Prime Minister when he was in the middle of making his speech on the adjournment. That misstep led to a number of unfortunate consequences and I don't think we want to stand here and be self-righteous and pretend that in the hubbub that pursued, we on this side of the House might not ourselves have been guilty of some excesses. But it was all triggered by that original miscue. On our side we too have to recognize that we must not test the Speaker, we must not push her to the limits, we have to act as statesmen, there is no woman here so I can use the masculine gender freely I believe. In that context then Mr. Speaker I feel that this has been a most useful exercise, I thank my colleagues on this side of the House. The Speaker has to be especially careful, while we are obliged to give her respect, she in turn must be in turn to be utterly above the partisan fray. That was not the impression that was created on the last occasion and that is why we have brought this motion to the house."
Hon. Michael Finnegan, UDP Mesop. Area Rep.
"Mr. Speaker my intention if they name me is to resign my seat. Resign from the House of Representatives, that is what I will do and all I will do is go back to the people who I represent in a by-election: vote back for me if you thought I was right or don't vote for me if you think I was wrong. But as long as I am in the House of Representatives, nobody will muzzle me and nobody will stop me for talking on behalf of those who I represent. The point is that in my honest and sincere view I believe that we need to vote here in this House in order to have somebody new sit in that chair. I believe that we need somebody that is neutral. I believe that the Speaker interferes in our presentation, the Speaker is too PUP and too partisan, and we need a change at the head of the chair and that is my honest view. I am not afraid of the Speaker, I am not afraid of a soul, that is my presentation."
Hon. Valdemar Castillo, Acting House Speaker
"All those in favor kindly say aye, those against say no...I think the no's have it.
We note one of the few times that the "no's" had it.
