…Duncan protested and gets suspended
A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament Sherod Duncan, who sternly objected to the derogatory remarks spewed at the female Opposition MPs in the House by Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharamlall, has been suspended. But the APNU+AFC, in a statement, said the decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, to suspend Duncan is “unacceptable and unfair.”
“In several 2022 budget speeches these very female MP’s spoke of the un-parliamentary tone, verbal abuse and racial slurs that plague the House and the consistent failure of the Speaker to reign this abhorrent behaviour,” the Coalition said.
In a statement issued after Wednesday’s Sitting of the National Assembly came to an abrupt end, the APNU+AFC said that Duncan’s outbursts in the House stemmed from remarks hurdled at a female Opposition MP by Minister Dharamlall during the consideration of the Budget Estimates in the Committee of Supply earlier that day.
In responding to a question posed by a female Opposition MP on a specific line item, Minister Dharamlall said: “You got to get a dildo, that’s what you looking for.”
From across the floor, MP Duncan repeatedly described the Local Government Minister as “nasty” as he stood in defense of the female MP. Calls by the Speaker for him to be seated went unheeded.
“I will not take my seat!” MP Duncan shouted. The Speaker then called for him to withdraw from the House, to which he responded: “I will not withdraw!”
It was then that the Speaker called on the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira to move a motion for Duncan to be suspended from the House for the next four sittings. The motion was successfully moved, resulting in the Opposition MP’s suspension.
APNU+AFC, in the statement, said throughout the course of the day female Opposition MPs, in particular, were subjected to continuous derogatory remarks by the Local Government Minister.
“The final straw was when the Minister who was being questioned by a female M.P. from the opposition on a specific line item, and while being on the floor, responded to the question by stating “You got to get a dildo, that’s what you looking for,” it explained.
It noted that despite the “unacceptable and vicious comment,” the Speaker made no attempt to reprimand or correct the Minister.
But the coalition said the Minister’s abusive conduct on Wednesday was nothing new.
“The female APNU+AFC MPs note that on every occasion that the Minister has to speak going back to 2020, the members on the opposition side especially the female MP’s, are forced to sit and listen to the vilest of verbal abuses and racial slurs. We will not accept this,” the APNU+AFC said.
In objection the Coalition MPs walked out of the House.
