Impeachment of President Weekes Defeated

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By Prior Beharry

A TRIBUNAL will not be setup to investigate the conduct of President Paula-Mae Weekes.

The motion calling for the impeachment of President Weekes brought by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar was defeated on Thursday by a vote of 47 to 24 in the Electoral College comprising all members of the Senate and the Lower House.

The drama started at 10.30 am when the House of Representatives was convened at the Red House in Port-of-Spain for an Extraordinary Sitting to deal with the motion under Section 36 of the Constitution.

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It called for the removal of President Weeks based on the process for the appointment of a police commissioner.

Before the motion was put, Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George responded to a letter Persad-Bisseesar sent to her.

The letter asked for three things:

  • The disqualification of Annisette-George as chair of the electoral proceedings;
  • The annulation of the initial guidelines issued; and
  • Independent Senator Charisse Seepersad, the sister of the former chairman of the Police Service Commission Bliss Seepersad, be advised to desist from participating.
Chairman of the Electoral College Bridgid Anisette-George

The Speaker said she will not disqualify herself from chairing the Electoral College. Persad-Bissessar had claimed that since Annisette-George was an attorney general under the Peoples National Movement (PNM) when the 2009 Order dealing with the appointment of an acting police commissioner was passed, she had a clear bias.

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The Speaker also dealt with whether Seepersad should desist from participating in the vote.

Annisette-George said, “It is absurd to suggest that any or every person who has participated in processes that are not the specific subject of this motion should be disqualified from participating in these proceedings.

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“Many Honourable Members here have sat in Cabinet, have held or currently hold Ministerial portfolios, have participated in debates, have asked questions and filed motions on issues which may be perceived as related ,although irrelevant, to this matter.

“The claim of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, taken to its logical conclusion, would suggest, that even the proposer and the Members who signed in support may be perceived as biased and should be disallowed from participating as well.

“No right thinking person will see the remotest connection between that 2009 Order and the subject matter of the Motion at hand.

“The assertion is absolutely illogical and I reject it outright.”

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Regarding annulation of the guidelines issued for the proceedings that called for no debate, Annisette-George said, “By way of example, a privilege motion does not trigger a debate. It is a proposal that an investigation is warranted.

“It is purely procedural. A privilege motion is never debated because it is an originating procedural motion, it is simply a complaint accompanied by grounds upon which the complaint is based.”

She said, “To seek to compare this motion with a standing order 41 motion is misguided.

“A standing order 41 motion, which initiates a debate, is decided by a majority vote in the House. The procedural motion in section 36 of the Constitution requires only the signatures of at least one-third of the membership of the House to advance to the next stage.”

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Annisette-George was interrupted on many occasions by the Opposition who said there was place on the order paper for a statement by the Speaker.

She said that she was making her statement under the heading announcements.

During the Speaker’s statement, United National Congress (UNC) sometimes would thump their desks preventing the Annisette-George from continuing. This happened on numerous occasions.

Persad-Bissessar was then called upon to put her motion to the House. Before she started she said the Speaker’s guidelines that proposed no debate of the motion was null and void and tore them up.

She said this was the death of democracy in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Her mic was muted.

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Persad-Bissessar then read the statement and her mic was again cut off.

St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen, in protest to the mic being cut, also protested saying, “The Leader of the Opposition has not completed her motion.”

He mic was muted again. Ameen shouted, “Whoever cut off my mic prevents the voices of elected members to be heard.”

The House was then adjourned and the Electoral College convened in the same chamber a few minutes later with the members of the Senate and Lower House.

First order of business was a roll call for all members present. Persad-Bissessar also asked for voting by secret ballot, but the Speaker refused.

When Independent Senator Seepersad said she was present there was uproar from the Opposition Members.

The time for the vote came and Opposition members said that their mics were not being turned on so their votes would not be registered.

President Paula-Mae Weekes

When it was UNC Senator Wade Mark’s turn he complained that his mic was not coming on. He said this was a death to democracy. He asked if the proceedings were being recorded and some of UNC members complained that a true record may not have been able to be produced in Hansard.

The Government MPs remained quiet throughout the sitting.

Annisette-George said that she was advised that sometimes desk thumping could affect the mic. There was shouts of consternation from the Opposition members.

In the end all Independent Senators and Government members voted no giving a total of 47 votes.

The Opposition votes amounted to 24. For the tribunal to be set up, two-thirds of the Electoral College had to support the motion. It was therefore defeated.

PNM MP Esmond Forde and UNC MP Rushton Paray were granted leaves of absence for the sittings.

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