B.N.N. Calls on Privilege Committee to Review Barrow’s Statement to Speaker

Janelle Chanona

We asked the senator for the NGOs, Janelle Chanona for a response to the opposition’s criticism of selective outrage. Well, according to Chanona, “you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t”.

Janelle Chanona, Senator for NGOs

“I can say that we heard a call go out for the privileges committee to review the actions related to that motion. I will say that again apart of our parliamentary procedures, a part of democracy as a whole that these things be tested. If it is that decorum have been breaches and some people feel like it hasn’t, then it is an opportunity for the committee set up to deal with such things to review that matter and reach a determination so that everyone can be guided, because I will share that as part of our governance framework, the BNN is keen on making sure that at all times we use our platform to ensure that the publics’ perception of what happens in the lower house, upper house is that of authority, dignity and that the people’s business is treated seriously and this is an opportunity, you all can probably recount to me more than most, all the incidents you have heard. Maybe you have questioned if that is decorum. This is an opportunity to look at it and land at that definition.”

Paul Lopez

“The criticism is though, where was the outcry then in the past where was the coming together of these NGOs, issuing a release, making a public statement when, for example, when a minister on the government’s side referred to area representative Tracy Panton or told her to sit on a carrot?”

Janelle Chanona

“So you are asking me if I am damned because it didn’t happen before and I am damned because I am doing it now.”