{"id":183363,"date":"2023-08-24T10:40:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=183363"},"modified":"2023-08-24T10:40:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:40:40","slug":"former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/","title":{"rendered":"Former House Speaker says suspension procedures were botched"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former House Speaker says Court decision was expected, but the fact remains that suspension procedures were botched*<\/p>

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Former House Speaker Dame D.Gisele Isaac says the decision of the High Court in this latest matter involving MP Asot Michael comes as no surprise to her.<\/p>\n

“Given the doctrine of separation of powers, I never expected the judiciary to intrude on a parliamentary matter,” Isaac says.<\/p>

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\u201cHowever, what transpired in Parliament that day, procedurally, was dead wrong, and this fact ought not to be lost on the public nor on the other Members of the House.\u201d<\/p>

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During her tenure in the Speaker\u2019s chair, Isaac presided over the ejection of the late Sir Lester Bird and the suspension of then Opposition Member Gaston Browne. On both occasions, she says, the present attorney-general, Steadroy \u201cCutie\u201d Benjamin, was present.<\/p>\n

Hence, she says, “The attorney-general knows and the prime minister knows that the suspension of MP Michael was not properly executed. And to allow that wrong to stand \u2013 simply because it suits their purpose \u2013 only compounds the problem and confirms the prevailing opinion that ‘might is right.'”<\/p>

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Isaac notes, too, that the Standing Orders governing the conduct of the House were revised recently by House Speaker Sir Gerald Watt; and so she expects that, he, too, is aware that the suspension was mishandled.<\/p>\n

“And you mean that none of them has enough principle or decency to say, ‘This needs a do-over?'” she asks.<\/p>

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In the final analysis, Isaac states, what this tells the public is that Parliament \u2013 often described as “the highest court in the land\u201d \u2013 is prepared to make laws for the people to follow while it declines to follow the rules, itself.<\/p>

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On a related matter, Isaac says describes the ABS News report on the High Court\u2019s ruling as \u201cdisingenuous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, ABS reported that MP Michael \u2013 ahead of the suspension \u2013 had “remonstrated loudly in response to a sotto voce remark from Government Benches.”<\/p>\n

The Italian phrase \u201csotto voce\u201d refers to something said in an undertone and not meant to be overheard.<\/p>\n

But Isaac counters that the remarks coming from the Government side “were clearly heard by the House and the ABS-TV audience; so there was nothing sotto voce about them. Not only that, they were intended to provoke that type of response from Michael,” she charges.<\/p>\n

During a radio interview that followed Michael\u2019s suspension, the players involved boasted that Michael would get no redress, since \u2013 even if the Speaker was wrong \u2013 the Court would not interfere in the proceedings of the Parliament.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the wrong lessons are being taught in this episode,\u201d the former Speaker concludes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former House Speaker says Court decision was expected, but the fact remains that suspension procedures were botched* Former House Speaker Dame D.Gisele Isaac says the decision of the High Court in this latest matter involving MP Asot Michael comes as no surprise to her. “Given the doctrine of separation of powers, I never expected the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":163670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer House Speaker says suspension procedures were botched - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former House Speaker says suspension procedures were botched\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former House Speaker says Court decision was expected, but the fact remains that suspension procedures were botched* Former House Speaker Dame D.Gisele Isaac says the decision of the High Court in this latest matter involving MP Asot Michael comes as no surprise to her. “Given the doctrine of separation of powers, I never expected the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-24T14:40:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GiseleIsaac.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"803\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"Former House Speaker says suspension procedures were botched\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-24T14:40:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-24T14:40:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:803\/h:412\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GiseleIsaac.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/former-house-speaker-says-suspension-procedures-were-botched\/\",\"name\":\"Former House Speaker says suspension procedures were botched - 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