PPP/C MPs walk out after Speaker muzzles and evicts Nandlall from Chambers

November 5,2016  http://citizensreportgy.com/?p=36010

The Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) just after midnight walked out on the Speaker of the House, Dr Barton Scotland, after he ordered People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), Anil Nandlall, to take his seat, not participate in the remainder of the debate on President’s David Granger’s speech and leave the House.

 Nandlall at the point of the Speaker’s ruling was referring to comments by Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan, referring to a threatening letter from BK Tiwari, which led to a US$5.7M settlement with the company.

Bulkan stood up in the House to object to the Nandlall’s reference and charged that he made no such comment.

The Speaker asked Nandlall to respond to Bulkan’s object. Nandlall insisted that he was correct in his reference, adding that the matter was reported in the local newspapers and Bulkan never refuted the report at any point. The PPP/C MP added that he has referenced this fact on several occasions and on these occasions there was also no rebuttal from Bulkan. He requested an hour to present the document to support his contention. Scotland refused his request and asked Nandlall to withdraw the comment or take his seat. Nandlall opted to take his seat.

The Speaker next informed Nandlall that he cannot participate in the remainder of the proceedings. Nandlall said, “I have no problem with that.” Afterwards, Scotland told Nandlall he would have to leave the House. Nandlall complied with the Speaker’s ruling and said, “I am packing.” At this point, his colleagues stood up in support of him and also left the Chambers.

Notably, the local daily newspaper, Kaieteur News, on August 23, 2016, in an article headlined ‘Govt. pays BK US$5.7m on a simple threat letter’ addressed the matter and quoted Bulkan on the issue.

The article said, “Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan was able to shed some light on this controversy.  In an interview with this newspaper, the politician explained that indeed the court said that BK International should be compensated after its contract for the management of the Haags Bosch was arbitrarily terminated.

“Bulkan said that the company however never moved to the court for compensation. He revealed that by way of letter, BK made a claim for over US$10M to the government.

“The Minister of Communities said he is not sure who, what or how the issue of BK going before the court to make his claim was manufactured.”
By Vanessa Narine