Following the withdrawal of his parliamentary salary for four months, Roseau North Constituency MP Danny Lugay has been paid in November. Speaker of the House, Joseph Isaac, ordered that Lugay’s salary be suspended after he was ordered to vacate the House following his unruly behaviour.
In reinstating Lugay’s salary, Isaac said he will be implementing stricter oversight on the behaviours of parliamentary members going forward.
The rules of the House require that the opposition, led by Lennox Linton, should be present when Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit makes a budget presentation. The rules grant that Lennox will be granted two hours to respond to the issues raised by the prime minister in his budget presentation.
Lennox was however absent during Skerrit’s presentation. On July 29, Lennox attempted to speak for two hours to address issues raised by Skerrit, but Isaac said his time will be restricted to 30 minutes since he was not available when the prime minister was making his presentation.
The Speaker noted that Lennox has lost his right to two hours due to his absence and would only be given 30 minutes. But the opposition members in the House rose up against the Speaker and other DLP members in protest, until Isaac ordered them to leave the parliament. When Lugay would not budge, the Speaker ordered the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort him out of the House.
Isaac advised that all the evicted opposition members could return to the House the following day; and the Clerk of the House dispatched a letter to Lugay that his salary has been suspended in accordance with Standing Order 50 (3) (C).
Lugay said the decision was “vindictive and wicked” and would seek redress in the court of law, but the case was never brought up in the courts.
Isaac said Lugay would begin to receive his salary retroactively from November 1 even though it should have been prorated from November 15. He went further to say he would begin to scrutinize the activities of MPs to ensure it is in compliance with House rules. He condemned the situation where opposition members would go to radio stations to drag the members of the House in the mud.
He said he would no longer condone any MPs who go to radio stations to criticize government policies or tarnish the image of Dominica’s parliament. He said it is unthinkable that opposition MPs would bring the entire House into disrepute by making unguarded statements in the public domain. He tasked the privileges committee to draft disciplinary measures against MPs who go out of line in the public media.
This article is copyright © 2021 DOM767
