Opposition claims House Speaker Valerie Woods has ‘double standards’

Published by [email protected] at March 14, 2023

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Posted: Tuesday, March 14, 2023. 12:03 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: Following last Friday’s events in the House of Representatives that saw Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow being escorted out at the order of Speaker of the House Valerie Woods for allegedly accusing her of “acting like a PUP,” the Opposition United Democratic Party vehemently condemned the double standards they say she exercises in her conduct of meetings.

While not explicitly denying or agreeing that the comment was made, the UDP in a statement claims more lenient treatment has been given to the opposing side.

Among the instances the UDP cites are no reprimand of multiple members of the ruling party for referring to the former Leader of the Opposition, Patrick Faber, as “Boy;” widely considered a racially derogatory slur; no reprimand to Orange Walk South area representative, Jose Mai, for saying the Albert area representative Tracy Taegar Panton should ‘go in the fields and sit down on a carrot’ so he can see that her concern about rotting vegetables is true; no censure of Julius Espat, Anthony Mahler, Kevin Bernard and several other PUP representatives for openly and embarrassingly challenging her authority in the House; and not chiding the Prime Minister for using obscenities several times in his live presentations in the House.

The Speaker is appointed with the consent of the entire House of Representatives but is expected to be publicly neutral, despite previous holders failing to meet that standard.

The Party’s statement concluded, “While some may argue that there is nothing worse than being called a “PUP”, the United Democratic Party calls on the Speaker to exercise fairness while presiding over the affairs of the House.”

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