General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has made another point in the controversy surrounding the use of the word ‘corruption’ in the National Assembly.
During his party’s press conference held on Thursday at Freedom House, Dr Jagdeo suggested that the context in which the word was used in the National Assembly may be the core issue, and not necessarily the word altogether.
He further pointed out that there are other cases where the word could be mentioned, giving the examples such as the names of legislation, and policies that could be raised in the House.
The recent protests by some factions of the opposition came as a result of the fact that Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir sought to enforce a rule which prohibited the use of the word ‘corruption’ during parliamentary sessions.
This, Dr Jagdeo underscored, is not a new prohibition incited by the current speaker, but rather a rule on the books that was utilised by many house speakers in the past.
“This ban was not instituted by Manzoor Nadir. I have been in Parliament for a very long time and successive speakers have viewed this [word] as unparliamentary language… even in the five years under APNU, in Parliament, you could not use the word,” he noted.
The general secretary made no qualms in admitting that he also was on the receiving end of caution and criticism from Speakers of the House for use of the word.
“I suspect it is how it’s used. Not if you are speaking about an Anti-Corruption convention, so [in that case] you can’t mention the word corruption there,” the General Secretary posited.
Dr Jagdeo further highlighted that parliamentarians have an immunity from legal recourse for anything that they mention during any sitting of the assembly. As such, he noted that the use of the word can often impugn another member’s character and there being no consequence of such, due to said immunity.
Furthermore, the party GS suggested that if there is such concern of the prohibition of the word, then similarly, the immunity granted to parliamentarians on what they say should also be abolished.
“If you want to remove the word ‘corruption’ [which] impugns the character… you should remove the immunity that Parliamentarians have from being sued,” GS Jagdeo expressed.
Additionally, Dr Jagdeo posited that this sudden uproar by members of the opposition is just another ploy to highlight a falsity that their voices in parliament are being muzzled.
This uproar, Dr Jagdeo stressed, is a non-issue.