House Speaker scolds Opposition over mace incident

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Juliet Holness, has strongly admonished Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Western, Dr Angela Brown Burke, and her Opposition colleagues following last Tuesday's incident in which Brown Burke lifted the mace from its place in the House.

In an address at the start of today's sitting, Holness said she wished to revisit the matter to remind members of the House and the country of the standards by which Parliament must conduct itself.

"The Mace is not a decoration. It is not a prop. It is not an object to be used in protest. It is the symbol of the authority of this House. It represents the authority under which we meet, debate, disagree, vote and make laws on behalf of the people of Jamaica.

"So when the Mace is interfered with, the issue is not simply about an object being moved. The issue is whether the authority of the House itself is to be respected," she said.

The mace, a ceremonial staff that marks the authority of Parliament and the conduct of its sittings, is to be handled only by the marshal.

The incident involving the mace occurred as a committee of the whole House examined the controversial National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) bill last Tuesday.

Brown Burke, in a seeming jest, took up the mace, put it down and repeated her action, then turned to engage members on the government side. 

A motion was subsequently moved by Leader of Government Business Floyd Green for Brown Burke to be suspended for the rest of the sitting. However, when the Marshal, Captain Wayne Blake, approached Brown Burke to usher her out of the Chamber, Opposition members encircled her and broke out into a popular Gospel chorus singing, “I shall not, I shall not be moved”.

After a short break, Opposition members left the chamber, and Brown Burke did not return with them when the House resumed.

This afternoon, Holness said a member of the House "may disagree with the Chair. A Member may disagree with a ruling or even believe that a process is unfair. But the answer cannot be disorder, defiance or contempt for the institution."

She noted that the Standing Orders provide the avenues by which Members may raise objections, seek clarification, challenge procedure, move amendments, divide the House, and place their disagreement on the record. 

"Those rules exist not to silence Members, but to protect every Member, including those in the minority," she stated.

Holness also alluded to public debate which has since emerged regarding the appropriateness of the use of the mace in the Jamaican parliament today.

"I am particularly mindful of the sentiment expressed by some that an indigenous object which reflects and gives expression to our Jamaican identity is desirable. That process however requires constitutional reform and consensus," she said.  

Holness said while the issue of the mace and Jamaica's colonial past is not the central issue as it relates to last week's occurrences, the Government has sought to make changes.

"The public record will reflect that during the life of the last parliament the Executive arm of the state had moved to adjust the constitutional arrangements but the required consensus with the Opposition was not achieved, hence the process has not advanced," she said.

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