The
rape and mockery of our democracy and constitution by our leaders at the
highest levels have now become commonplace. The non-appointment of the deputy
speaker, the rape of the order paper, the crass ignorance of parliamentary
procedure at the level of our House of Assembly are all shameful acts that
deserve strong condemnation.
It
is an incontestable fact that given the “configuration” of the House, the
election of a deputy speaker is impossible; hence, the call at every sitting to
seek to elect one must be construed as an act of intellectual fraud designed to
play to the gallery and pull wool over our eyes.
The
rape, mockery and ignorance reached a crescendo of sorts when the PM of the
country (assisted by the speaker of the parliament) violated the constitution
and standing orders of the House of the Assembly by interfering with the order
paper. Perhaps, the violation - just like the deputy speaker issue – may
deserve judicial review, for if those constitutional atrocities are not checked
early, then we may soon unsuspectingly evolved into a “constitutional
dictatorship”.
Perhaps,
amidst all that is going on, we can be thankful to one bright spark who has
risen above the tragicomedy and who have stood up as a tower of power and have
become as impenetrable as “matter”
In
physics, we learn that one of the characteristics of matter is its
impenetrability. In the midst of the evolution of a Chastanet dictatorship, Dr
Hilaire has turned out to have true “mass”! He is becoming the “impenetrable
champion” of the people, democracy and the constitution. Armed with iron-clad
logic, political genius and the fortitude of a champion, he has become a
generational role model of sorts that every young man and women coming up
should want to emulate.
Amidst
all the noise and effluvia, he brings a breath of fresh air of enlightenment to
proceedings in the house which to say the least is inspirational. In fact, I
would dare say, it is usually after his “enlightening discourse” and
“engagements with the speaker” that the proceedings of the house degenerate
into junk and “pappyshow”, leaving Madam Speaker rattled, perplexed and
confused by the nuanced, deft and expert intellectual penetration of the
issues. Dr Hilaire is truly deserving of the title honourable.
The
matter of the appointment/non-appointment of the deputy speaker will be the
permanent thorn in the speaker’s side. It's an issue she piped herself treating
it as a joke initially; but when all is said and done, it will be an ugly
legacy she would wish that never happened.
Her
accommodation of the PMs unconstitutional request to modify the order paper
only added insult to injury, for the PM had absolutely no constitutional
authority (in his capacity as PM) to neither seek to change the order paper nor
to be entertained by the speaker in that regard. She acted like an ordinary
hack holding the highest ranked position in our parliament.
The
speaker has sinned twice against our constitution and consequently she does not
deserve to hold the position. I think she should gracefully resign her position
before the next sitting of parliament.
Given
the current “configuration” of the Lower House (with all government members
being ministers and the opposition making it clear that their members are not
available for the post of deputy speaker), then not only is it “inconvenient”
to elect a deputy speaker, it is simply impossible. The question is: why therefore does the speaker - sitting
after sitting, like a broken record- have to make a mockery of our constitution
by inviting members to elect a deputy speaker?
