Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West MP Patricia Mc Intosh’s refusal to withdraw and apologise over statements made about the “immoral conduct” of three People’s Partnership ministers landed her in hot waters with Speaker Wade Mark on Friday. At one point, Mark told Mc Intosh that if she continued to speak and question his ruling he would ask her to leave the House. The incident happened while Mc Intosh was making her contribution to the Finance Bill 2014 in the House of Representatives.
Mc Intosh began criticising San Fernando West MP Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan for condemning opposition members earlier for not upholding value systems and cautioning PNM supporters about their conduct outside Parliament on March 28. Mc Intosh said she wondered if Seepersad-Bachan was joking, stating that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
She said Seepersad-Bachan and members on the Government side had no moral authority to “pontificate” opposition members about values because three ministers who were booted out of the Government for “immoral conduct” were sitting in Parliament.
“Do not use the debate for that. File a substantive motion and do not impugne the character or reflect on the persons who you have made reference to. Do not go there at all,” Mark warned Mc Intosh. “Thank you, Mr Speaker. Facts, however, are facts,” Mc Intosh replied. Marked called on Mc Intosh to withdraw her statement and apologise to the chair and House. Mc Intosh, however, stood her ground stating “I am afraid that the facts are in the public domain.”
Mark cut short Mc Intosh’s contribution telling her to sit since he had ruled on her behaviour. “If you continue to utter words that are designed to question my ruling, I would ask you to leave for the rest of the evening,” Mark said.