Two separate incidents involving parliamentary walkouts have recently taken place within Caribbean nations, one in Trinidad and Tobago and the other in St. Kitts and Nevis. These events possibly call into question the perceived impartiality of parliamentary Speakers and the overall state of democratic accountability in the Caribbean, according to a Times Caribbean report.
In Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament, members of the opposition Peoples National Movement (PNM) staged a walkout on Friday evening, citing issues with the Speaker’s conduct. The opposition reportedly accused the presiding officer of demonstrating bias and selectively applying parliamentary rules. They claimed that their attempts to ask urgent questions and questions directed at the Prime Minister were consistently rejected, while government Members of Parliament (MPs) were allowed to behave disruptively and engage in unparliamentary conduct without repercussions.
The article said that the opposition’s statement criticized the Speaker’s failure to act impartially and uphold constitutional and parliamentary standards, describing the situation as “untenable.” They emphasized that Parliament belongs to the people, not any political party or individual presiding officer.
It goes on to say that political analysts in Port of Spain have noted that this incident reflects a broader erosion of confidence in Caribbean parliamentary traditions. Traditionally regarded as institutions modeled after British parliamentary procedures, many legislatures are now facing accusations of bias and procedural manipulation, which threaten the integrity of democratic governance, alleges the article.
Meanwhile, in Basseterre, St. Kitts, another parliamentary controversy unfolded earlier this week involving former Prime Minister and current
Dr. Timothy Harris. Harris staged a solitary walkout in protest over what he described as a “mockery of parliamentary procedure.”
The issue centered around the failure of the Assembly to table or approve parliamentary minutes for over three years—a total of 27 sittings, including three national budgets. In a dramatic move, the Speaker attempted to approve all outstanding minutes in a single sitting, a practice Harris condemned as a “flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition.”
Harris argued that minutes should be reviewed and approved individually to ensure accuracy and transparency, condemning the bulk approval as “absurd and dangerous.”
The St kitts-Nevis Times quotes Dr Harris as asserting, “The minutes ought to be taken one after the other and members be given a chance to deal with the minutes. The approach we are taking here is novel and has no basis,” before walking out.
The publication added that experts noted this as the first known instance in modern democratic history where a parliament had gone three years without confirming its minutes.
Dubbed “A Parliamentary Scandal ‘Without Precedent in the World'”, it went on to state that the controversy has reportedly ignited public outrage and fueled calls for the resignation of the Speaker, with critics accusing her of neglecting democratic principles and transparency.
These two incidents, though geographically separated, are seen by analysts as indicative of a troubling regional trend claims the write-up.
It outlined further that the longstanding Westminster-style parliamentary systems in the Caribbean, purportedly celebrated historically for their order and decorum, are now seemingly facing challenges from rising partisanship and the weakening of institutional checks and balances.
“From St. Clair to Sandy Point, the Caribbean’s parliaments are on trial — not by the Opposition, but by history itself. The question is whether our democratic referees can still play fair,” said one political analyst.
Caribbean Times explored the common thread by summarizing: “Across the Caribbean, there is growing disillusionment with the way parliaments are being conducted — Speakers accused of political loyalty over neutrality, governments accused of weaponizing procedure, and oppositions increasingly forced to walk out rather than be shouted down.”
Continuing, “In both Port of Spain and Basseterre, the message from the Opposition benches was clear: Democracy cannot function when fairness is replaced by favoritism.”
Both parties involved have instigated a chain reaction of inquiry, with the T&T opposition vowing to persist until demonstrable change is achieved.
look at de reasons for de walk out
why not start de debate there
de actions of de parliamentarians are well protected under their CONSTITUTION……some people shiver when they hear or see dat word
they committed no crime and neither did UWP
Go to the more the 6,000 people living in the free houses and tell them the government steal the money to build them free houses.Then expect to be greeted with hot water,I suspect people like Ibo,MEME,Bwa,Him,Hmmm and Francisco-DOGG have given up winning an election.The people in Dominica do not care if opposition walk out.
@Lin Clown
The clearest sign that someone is a fool, is when he ignorantly supports everything that very corrupt people do. You are an idiot. Giving houses or even gold cannot wash away corruption. But who can argue with a dunderhead? Guess no one.
Nowhere in the world have opposition parliamentarians walk out of parliament than UWP in Dominica.The sad thing is,with all their walkouts the majority of Dominicans do not seem to care a rats A.The opposition walkout untill they walk out of parliament and out of government permanently.
You see that is why DLP will win elections in Dominica.The PEOPLE voted Labour and removed them in 1979,they voted Freedom in 1980. and removed them in 1995.They voted the most corrupt government ever in Dominica 1995.Because of their high level of corruption.victimization,greed and lies the people kicked the out in 2000,after less than 5 years in office.Commonsense tells us if the PEOPLE were not satisfied with the way the country is run,they would kick out DLP.That is commonsense but again,very few supporters of UWP have it.There were a number of people in the belly of UWP,Loreen Bannis Roberts,Julius Timothy.Joseph Issac,Frankie CrazyT Bellot.Dr Curving Ferreira,Nichols Shanks Esprit,Earl Bruno,Jason Fontaine all left and told us UWP was corrupt.Recently deputy Paris and president left because of backstabbing and betrayal in UWP.Walk out in Dominica is never in the interest of the people.Thise are the True comments that have met with wrath of disclaimer and awaiting moderation.
I am a Dominican and therefore I am only interested in what is happening in Dominica.
While it is good to see Opposition parliamentarians walk out in Trinidad and St Kitts, we already know we don’t have an opposition in Dominica , since what we have passing as opposition is two greedy and selfish opportunists that used the supporters of the opposition to run when the opposition refused to participate in the 2022 fake and corrupt stealection of Skerrit. You we don’t expect any of them to walk out since they are only in there for pay check.
Now Skerrit selected and paid his nineteen ministers to defend him and clap like kindergartners and therefore even if they know Skerrit is destroying the country, like the followers of Jim Jones, we know they will do anything Skerrit asks them to do for him and therefore none will stand against his evil and none will walk out or speak out even if they know Skerrit has destroyed the country
They are ultra-selfish hyenas. Once their bread is buttered to Hell with all others. All nineteen are cultish groupies of Dominica’s Jim Jones (Roosevelt).
good move
De analysts are right on target seeing these incidents as a “troubling regional trend”………we went from de worst speaker to a Judas speaker.
we de people think dat de speaker doing de biddings of de one dat say is he dat running tings in Dominica.
Dem new age autocrats in our region wants to seat on a throne too.
Parliamentary DEMOCRACY in most Caribbean countries has gone rogue. The persons handpicked as Speakers are no more than political hacks and diehards of the ruling political party. No more is this evident than in Jamaica, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Dominica, it’s the norm throughout the region.
We can’t blame our former colonizers for the poor health of our democracy. It has been self inflicted. It is on a suicidal path. What we have now as democracy is no more than plantation politics.
I think the same happens throughout CARICOM, in Trinidad, Dominica, StKitts, Antigua, Barbados, StVincent, StLucia, etc.
I refer to the new genre of CARICOM leaders as a gang of thieves, and their duty is obviously not to deliver to the people in a selfless way, but to bleed dry the treasuries of those countries. So they feed their supporters with a miserly crumb, but they hoard millions in offshore banks, they buy prime properties on other people’s names, they own several homes, they wear extremely expensive clothing, they are exploiting vulnerable females, they take lavish trips to Dubai, they have greedy and shameless propagandists doing their dirty biddings, etc, etc,.They lie, they STEAL and they cheat.
As i have said many times before, those rascals deserve jail time when their political candle has been burnt out.
MEME