COMMENT OF THE WEEK

WE HAVE TO AVOID THROWING PEOPLE OUT THE HOUSE

Sir Clifford Darling was Speaker of The House for two terms. During that time he never once threw anyone out of the House of Assembly.

Whenever things got too heated, he would simply suspend the House until such time as order was restored.

That we believe was the value of history and knowing history.  The PLP did not want to be associated with that had happened to its members when they were in opposition, with the Speaker of the House Bobby Symonette throwing Arthur Hanan and Milo Butler out of the House.  The pictures are there to see of the men being lifted and expelled.

No PLP administration should have itself connected with a legacy of the FNM Speakers which was to throw PLPs out of the House because they simply did not like the vociferous manner in which PLP MPs were responding to the FNM government

Bradley Roberts, Glenys Hanna Martin are two of the more prominent who were thrown out the House.  They even threw the Leader of the Opposition Philip Davis out of the House.

Michael Pintard and the FNM now see being thrown out of the House as a badge of honour.  It is a way to get publicity by carrying on in such a manner as to create mayhem.  The PLP falls into a trap when it accedes to that,

Obie Wilchcombe acted properly by moving to suspend the House until the  dispute with the presiding officer and the FNM subsided. It is a phony dispute anyway, so lets not fall into that trap.