MPs who violate Parliament must face stiffer sanctions

Along with the prayers of the Amerindian community for those functioning in a Parliament constructed over a burial ground of the First Peoples, a rigorous set of rules and laws to govern the behaviour of those operating within its corridors must also be instituted.

Recent happenings show the clear need for the above to monitor and bring censure to gross, vulgar and often very deliberate and despicable behaviours by parliamentarians.

It is absolutely insufficient for the tradition of Parliament to continue to have the exclusive right to determine its own rules and regulations to monitor and take action against such unwanted vituperation.

The reality of Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament is that it contains members biased towards their parties and so MPs are unlikely to make decisions which can penalise each other, notwithstanding the circumstances; that’s just the nature of politics.

Also, and without casting aspersions on the present office holder, the House Speaker is usually placed in the chair by the ruling political party and government and, as has been the case, such an affiliation is assumed to influence the individual’s decision-making.

The logic, therefore, must be to place acts of indiscipline

firmly outside the reach of MPs and into the laws of the country. Further, the codes and laws which govern the behaviours of MPs must carry severe penalties for those who violate them. The possibility of being made to vacate a seat and having to face civil and criminal proceedings should be counted among the penalties.

The behavioural patterns of MPs, including when they slander citizens who have no redress, not even in the courts, must have serious consequences.

In keeping with the tradition of such decisions made by Speakers, MP Stuart Young yesterday escaped censure after apologising to the House for his recent behaviour. However, this was not before House Speaker Brigid Annisette-George berated him for offensive comments he made about the Opposition Leader and another MP on that side of the House.

The fact is, though, that MP Young’s revolting comment – which we do not wish to repeat here – is far from being an isolated incident. Such displays, including those made in formal statements by MPs, have become part of the standard practice in Parliament.

The time is right for such laws to be passed to govern the conduct of parliamentarians in the chambers. If codes and laws were to be passed, the decision on willful guilt or innocence would be determined by magistrates and judges of the courts of the country right up to the Supreme Court of T&T.

The reality must be faced that gross disrespectful, even criminal behaviours and unsubstantiated name-calling cannot be allowed to continue, while the slightest error by an average citizen lands them in jail.

The freedom of a small but vitally important group of individuals, of not having to seriously account for disreputable behaviours, is yet another aspect of the inequity in the society. And it is one which has and continues to cause disruption and reason for disorder amongst citizens without such protections.

The reality of this particular incident is one in which an MP has grossly and conspicuously gone beyond behaviours and language which can be acceptable in the national law-making institution and has done so without punishment to match the violation.

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