Opposion leader and Marigot MP Lennox Linton stormed out of a parliamentary sitting on Monday and failed to return when sitting resumed in the afternoon. According to the UWP leader, the Speaker of the House, Honourable Joseph Isaac, has the habit of intimidating him and always trying to silence him whenever he raises a point that pro-government lawmakers deem anti-government.
Speaking specifically on what transpired in the House before he stormed out, Linton said he was trying to establish that the government had been failing in providing for legitimate expenses from the consolidated fund.
To drive home his point, he noted that the Skerrit-led administration out to have provided stimulus package to bus drivers since April 2020 because of the biting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it took the government a massive strike action from transport workers before they gave the stimulus package a year later.
Linton said receiving COVID-19 stimulus package is the legal entitlement of the drivers and they ought to have received it a year ago.
In addition, he said Speaker Joseph Isaac shut him down when he mentioned the name of President Charles Savarin in connection with a constitutional citation. He said Isaac and other pro-government lawmakers reacted that mentioning the name of the president through quoting a section of the constitution would bring the office of the president into disrepute. He said the members of the House always try to muzzle the opposition from speaking the truth against the government.
So, therefore, I walked out because I had enough and will not go back to the sitting of the parliament. It’s almost like I have no right to speak. Like I’m not a human being. My presentation has to be interrupted with all sorts of nonsensical submissions from the speaker’s chair.
Hon. Lennox Irving Linton, Leader of the United Workers Party
In his reaction, Speaker Isaac he is not intimidating anyone but only trying to enforce the standing orders of the House. He said there are rules of debate guiding oral presentations on the floor of the House and that lawmakers must respect the rules when addressing other members of the House. The former Roseau Central MP said lawmakers must apply parliamentary language when talking and not just to rant emotionally because they want to make a point.
We ought to be diplomatic; we ought to be respectful and honourable in our actions. This is no place for thinned skin people. We have to face the music, accept when we are wrong and move on….walking out is not an option, the people of Marigot deserve better than that.
Senator Gregory Riviere, Minister of State for Finance and Economic Planning
In defiance, Linton said that if pro-government lawmakers believe that they have the rights to “disrespect and dehumanize and demonize and criticize and intimidate members of the opposition, then they can proceed.”
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