On the opposite page of The Anguillian, Mrs Barbara Webster-Bourne, in a letter to the Opposition Members in the House of Assembly, has severely criticised them for their absence from the meeting on October 25 and for staging a walkout on November 20, leaving the House without a quorum and forcing its adjournment. Her letter was also a response to one from the Opposition Members expressing dissatisfaction with her conduct and management of the House over the years.
The latest criticism of the Speaker came at a public meeting held by the three Opposition Members – Evans Rogers, OthlynVanterpool and Edison Baird – on Saturday, November 30, outside the Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre. Mr Rogers, Leader of the Opposition, mainly addressed matters relating to the House of Assembly.
Mr Rogers said the letter from the Speaker, to him and his colleagues, which he would be responding to, was personally delivered to them at their homes (by Rondie Webster); but she “could not find the time or the people to deliver the papers that are necessary for debate in the House of Assembly.”
Mr Rogers read a portion of the Speaker’s letter to the Opposition as follows: “Addressing your letter most specifically, I would underscore the fact, and express without fear or favour that I, at all times, sought to act fairly and in accordance with the established rules, principles and procedure.”
The Opposition Leader, who read other portions of the Speaker’s letter, criticised her for claiming that she was carrying out her duties with parity to both sides of the aisle and showing professionalism to all when, in fact,“she was allowing Hubert and the Government side of the aisle to do whatever they want.”
Addressing what constitutes a quorum in the House, Mr Rogers stated: “The members of the House number eleven and in addition the Speaker. You have seven elected members of the House; two nominated members; and two ex-officio members. When the Bills were passed in the House (the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2013) and Fiscal Framework Bill 2013 on October 25), four of the seven elected members were not present: the three elected members from the Opposition and the elected member for West End. When the House was convened, the Second Nominated Member and Deputy Speaker left the chamber in protest because he was involved in litigation and law suits with regards to the quorum issue in 1999 and 2000.
“During the sitting of the House the two ex-officio members (the Attorney General and the Acting Deputy Governor) left. So if we have seven elected members, four of them and the two ex-officio members left the House,[and] one of the nominated members left the House, that is a total of seven members to have left the House and the Speaker continued with the sitting of the House. You are going to tell me that she does not understand, or does not know, what a quorum is all about?
“What makes it worse is that the same letter that her signature is affixed to, reads in part: ‘Certainly, you ought to know, and the point has to be made, that a quorum in the House of Assembly is not made up of elected members only’. But out of the seven elected members, four are not present. With four elected members, two ex-officio members and one of the two nominated members absent, give you a total of seven. So a quorum wasn’t there if the elected members made up the quorum; a quorum wasn’t there if the totality of the House of Assembly has to be taken into consideration. However you turn it, fellow Anguillians, there wasn’t a quorum in there and she is pointing this out in her letter to us. Something is wrong… It isn’t making any sense; it isn’t adding up.”
Mr Rogers went on: “I said earlier that the Speaker is a political operative for the AUM Government. She is seated in the Speaker’s Chair but she may as well be seated on the Government side of the House – of the aisle. I want to remind Madam Speaker that she should not be a member of the Government, but from her behaviour and conduct in the House, and from this letter, it is indicative that she is performing like a member of the Government.”
The Leader of the Opposition later said: “You better believe this. I am putting it to you, Madam Speaker, that a motion of no confidence in you, as the Speaker of the House, will be part of a set agenda for the next sitting of the House of Assembly. All visual and all the audio evidence that we have accumulated over the four years, with that particular debate in the House of Assembly, will be put together and sent to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association for training material.”
