Debating…Parliamentary privileges

Today, the debate on the 2026 Budget kicks off. Usually, this is a pretty eye-glazing affair – even though the Opposition usually tries to spice it up by making all sorts of outlandish claims on the policies and initiatives proposed by the Government!! They are – after all protected by parliamentary privilege!! While we’ve worked out our own rules on the matter, we ground our perspective on the substance of Article 9 of the 1689 English Bill of Rights: “Freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court.”
The rule has it limits, however, and the Speaker will usually remind the MPs before the debate about those boundaries!! Usually, these gotta do with maligning the character, competence, or integrity of other MPs – and in the context of Guyana, the Speaker has specifically flagged calling each other “corrupt”!! Maybe it got to do with pots calling kettles black??!! “Liar”, “fool”, “ass-kisser” and other terms that ridicule or demean based on personal traits or behaviour are also verboten. MPs usually try to circumvent this rule by using euphemisms – such as “a stranger to the truth” for “liar”!! Words that may provoke disorder in the House would also be shut down!!
What’s gonna be interesting in today’s Budget Debate is whether MPs can refer to the new LOO as “Honourable Sanction Man”!! Would this provoke the WIN MPs to disruptive actions?? Usually, MPs may refer to criminal indictments, charges, or convictions of other MPs during parliamentary proceedings – once they don’t in this case imply that the LOO is guilty!! And on that point, Sanction Man himself mentioned the matter in his first speech in Parliament after his election as LOO!! Said he, “Mr Speaker, I am mindful of matters currently before the courts. Let me state clearly: in Guyana, as in all democratic societies governed by rule of law, a person is innocent until proven guilty.” But he was a tad disingenuous there, wasn’t he??
As your Eyewitness has been saying for the longest time, if Sanction Man believes he’s innocent of the eleven criminal charges in the US indictment, shouldn’t he appear in the US courts to clear his name?? What are his fears to dig in his heels so firmly while kicking and screaming bloody murder to resist the extradition order? Does he believe the US courts are fixed and don’t deliver justice?? If he feels that way, he should say so!! Pres Trump, for one, and Secty Rubio for another, would be quite interested in his view!!!
So back to today’s debate!! Your Eyewitness believes the Speaker’s gonna be tested something special!!
Parliamentary privilege makes Sanction Man’s appearance akin to throwing red meat into shark-infested waters!! Ouch!!

… constitutional principles
One of Sanction Man’s paid stable of letter writers fighting to have him avoid facing the American Courts – and the probable mercies of the penitentiary’s general population decked out in a cute orange jumpsuit – claims our Constitution oughta be changed to accommodate WIN’s winning the LOO position. Specifically so he doesn’t have to jawbone directly with APNU/PNC – as the AFC/WPA did to have Desmond Trotman appointed Commissioner!! What’s he got against Norton??
But your Eyewitness returns to the question of character that Sanction Man, WIN and his hired guns studiously avoid: defending his refusal to face the courts. The issue of the character of leaders and the constitution was most clearly articulated by Dr Ambedkar, who wrote India’s Constitution: “However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad.” Ambedkar believed a Constitution’s effectiveness is determined not by its content but by the integrity and moral character of those administering it.
What say Sanction Man??

…law breaking
Sanction Man’s protesting GRA firing a manager and five employees ‘cause they approved the transfer of ELEVEN of Sanction Man’s cars to others – knowing that all commercial dealings with the international fugitive were against the law!!