St Vincent (SVG) opposition leader Godwin Friday has blasted the government for what can be described as holding a “foreday morning parliament’, and questioned in whose interest it is being held.
The government passed a 136 million-dollar hurricane relief bill at 3 a.m. on Friday morning, following which Friday spoke to the issue and urged the speaker to discourage the practice.
“Tonight’s exercise really is pushing the limit of tolerance. We are having this debate at 3:38 in the morning, when most members on our side of the house have left for valid reasons, and half of the members on the government side of the house are asleep”.
Friday said that at 3 a.m. in the morning, nobody is listening, and there’s absolutely no consideration for the staff of the honourable house.
“It is unconscionable, madam speaker; it really is a practice that should be discouraged. Who are we serving when no one is paying attention to the debate”?
“I don’t understand the rationale for it, and we sit here and we tolerate it as if somehow this is normal; it is abnormal; it is unconscionable; it is selfish, to be honest.”
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in his response to the leader of the opposition, said he disagrees with the honourable leader of the opposition, saying that the debate is neither abnormal nor selfish.
“It is absolutely necessary and desirable for this bill to have been passed. Without this bill, there is no programme that could have been done to recover from Beryl. The same thing in relation to the public sector loan. The other matter is the overdraft; all of them are connected to an important programme in relation to Hurricane Beryl.”
According to Gonsalves, effective time management is crucial, and Thursday was a unique day due to a number of specific issues.
“Madam Speaker, we need to put a tight rein on obituaries and congratulations. They took two hours this morning. I mean, every single person who died in every single constituency was mentioned. It’s a habit that has gotten out of control,” Gonsalves said.
