And while the Prime Minister will gauge his own response, or non-response - that line about "stifling debate" was raised with the speaker of the house in a letter Briceno sent to her last week. He said he was denied an opportunity to debate at the house meeting on Friday, October 4th. Here's that moment:
Hon. John Briceno, Leader of the Opposition
"To speak on any of these motions, because we had to wait for it to come back from house committee."
Speaker of the House
"I said no, we will not be doing that today."
Hon. John Briceno
"But these have already gone to house committee and now it's coming back."
Speaker of the House
"But there was a time for debate in the last meeting. Nobody picked it up."
Hon. John Briceno
"Because we were waiting for it to go to the house committee and when it comes back we can debate it."
Speaker of the House
"No, that won't be happening."
Hon. John Briceno
"It's very important for us Madam Speaker for us to put on record on motion number two on the Perdomo issue."
Speaker of the House
"Yes I understand that very well, but it did come and nobody picked it up. So that won't be happening today."
So, Briceno has written to the speaker, taking her to task for shutting down his debate. He said her decision not to debate the write off motions was arbitrary; it violated his constitutional rights, and that she acted against the letter and the spirit of the Standing Orders.
And, today, Madam Speaker wrote back, with a 700 word ode to Parliamentary procedure.
She tells Briceno plainly, quote, "you provided no objective references in the Standing Orders to substantiate your grievances…your letter is misleading, and the facts are misrepresented." End quote.
She points out that it should have been debated when it was presented at the August house meeting, quote "as is the procedure when all Motions are presented in the House."
She adds, "When the Write-Off Motions were moved by the…Prime Minister on 16thAugust…I looked on both sides of the Chamber and none of the Honourable Members of the Opposition rose to debate the Motions.
She then goes unto scold Briceno saying, quote, "As a senior Parliamentarian and Leader of the Opposition, you should be fully aware that my decisions must be grounded in the Standing Orders…the letter sent to me should, instead, be directed to the…Members of the Opposition for them to provide you with their reasons why they failed to debate the Motion on 16th August, 2019, when the Motion was presented. Perhaps they do not fully understand the procedures laid out in the Standing Orders." End quote, and ouch.
The Speaker closes with one last sting, quote "I strongly encourage your Members to accept responsibility for their failure to debate…when the Write-Off Motion was presented." End quote, and pretty much, end of story.
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