PUP say Speaker had no right to remove Andrews

Monday, June 29, 2015. Aaron Humes Reporting: The People’s United Party (PUP) says Speaker of the House of Representatives Michael Peyrefitte had no authority under the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives to order the summary removal of Senator Jason Patrick Andrews from the House gallery by police during Friday’s meeting of the House in Belmopan, a move which saw Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca lead a walkout of PUP parliamentarians and supporters.

Francis Fonseca

So says the PUP in a press release, citing the Legislative Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act which separates members and officers of the National Assembly (the House and the upper Chamber, the Senate, combined) from “strangers” or visitors which are neither.

House member Michael Finnegan had prevailed on Speaker Peyrefitte to intervene after Andrews had reportedly been seen reacting during a presentation by Collet representative Patrick Faber.

But the PUP says Hon. Peyrefitte has again shown “his pointed disregard for his role as Speaker and of the rules which govern the National Assembly.”

The PUP also chide the Government for “continued disrespect for the laws of the country” and ‘ruthless determination … to make and amend laws to suit themselves.”

For the PUP, the amended Petrocaribe Loans Act and $62 million in supplementary spending of Petrocaribe funds, coming just three months after the national budget, is “reckless and unsustainable spending” which is taking the country down an “undemocratic path.”

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