House Meeting Goes on Recess After Uncontrollable Outburst
Valerie Woods
Speaker of the House, Valerie Woods had to call a recess during the debate on the Definitive Agreement after an argument erupted between the Leader of the Opposition and members of the government. It began with Barrow rising from his seat to raise a point of order. Following his point of order, a government representative called out Barrow for raising his voice on the microphone when getting up to speak. Anthony Mahler, the Minister of Tourism then chimed in, at which point Barrow accused Mahler of physically assaulting one of his Cabinet colleagues. Speaker Woods commented on the outburst at the adjournment.
Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House
“The House in on recess for the next five minutes.”
Anthony Mahler
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
“Meet me outside, meet me outside, *expletive*”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“I would want to see you do that. No police nuh the een yah. That will be a lawsuit. I could make a nice money, you rich right now. You rich right now so you could afford it. Nobody nuh the stop yo. Nobody nuh the stop yo. Nice law suit. I dah nuh Kareem Musa, I dah nuh Kareem Musa. How you mek the man punch your breda and you nuh do nothing.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“It is simple, both sides needs to follow the standing orders and I will get up the entire House Meeting every time a standing order is violated, and the standing orders makes clear that no member of the House can impute improper motives on any member of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister said that a member of the National Assembly was committing an illegal act, a corrupt act. So that is what happens when you impute improper motives on members. It is what happens when you insult members when you go from debating the substance of bills, legislation to name calling.”
Reporter
“Threats of fights outside.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“I didn’t threaten anyone.”
Reporter
“But you accused Mr. Mahler of physically assaulting one of his colleagues.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“I definitely heard that, I don’t know if that is true.”
Reporter
“But you just threw it out there as an accusation.”
Moses “Shyne” Barrow
“I heard that from a very reliable source within the Cabinet.”
Valerie Woods
“I cannot tell you when I exited the chamber, for the times I exited, amount of text I have gotten, because apparently the media, which is their right, caught the clip in recess. None of it is on official record thanks goodness, but it is out there, so there is a record. And it speaks to language, language that the women all women parliamentarians in this chamber, both sides and the other side has taken an issue with, and it cannot be countenanced even if it is captured on recess and not on record. It is unfortunate that I was not in chamber because I would never have allowed.”
