No sitting of Parliament today following contentions last week

 

 

There will be no sitting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

 

The notification from Gordon House did not specify a reason for the sitting not being held.

 

It comes after last week's contentious sitting, which escalated into a fracas among some parliamentarians following the adjournment.

 

The altercation stemmed from the debate on the censure motion arising from Jamaica's abstention from the vote on the United Nations resolution calling for an end to the United States embargo on Cuba. 

 

House Speaker Juliet Holness had invited the Leaders of Government and Opposition Business to a meeting on Monday to discuss matters concerning the conduct and functioning of the House.

 

There has been no word on the outcome of the meeting.

 

 

Meanwhile, former Deputy Speaker of the House, Lloyd B. Smith, has stressed that the actions of opposition parliamentarians to heckle and block the House Speaker, while she exited the chamber last Tuesday, were disruptive and wrong.

 

Speaking Tuesday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, Mr. Smith said the use of expletives and defamatory language by parliamentarians in the House, which are currently exempt from criminal sanctions, should be revisited in the Standing Orders.

 

"There are sanctions that are there that can be applied such as suspension and so on. But these are not very punitive. We perhaps need to look at some more punitive measures as we go along in order to create a certain level of, you know, prohibition that people don't just take this thing for granted, in terms of what they say in Parliament. Because one of the things that often happens in our Parliament, you know, is we talk about sotto voce remarks. And if you hear some of those remarks, you're blood would turn, you know."  

 

He said Parliament should also seriously consider the recommendation for the Standing Orders to be changed to have a neutral Speaker of the House.

 

The opposition has often complained that House Speaker Juliet Holness has not managed the sittings in a balanced manner.

 

Mr. Smith also expressed concern that some parliamentarians, particularly new members, are unfamiliar with the Standing Orders, outside of Point of Order.