Seetahal rebuked for newspaper column

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives ruled Friday that Independent Senator Dana Seetahal won't be taken before the Privileges Committee.

But Pennelope Beckles severely rebuked Seetahal for a statement she made about House Speaker Barry Sinanan in her weekly column in the Guardian newspaper.

In the offending column captioned PNM out of Control Seetahal wrote: "The debate on the Validation Bill devolved into name-calling and bad-mouthing, and the fact that this was allowed to happen must surely lie with the Speaker of the House, who is responsible for regulating the conduct of business in the House."

Read the Commentary: Sen. Dana Seetahal for Privileges Committee?

Sinanan had asked his deputy to rule on the matter since it concerned him.

In her ruling, Beckles said, "The actions of this Senator were pre-emptive and unwarranted and demonstrated discourtesy to the Chair and to this House."

She said the offending column did not meet the test to be classified as contempt therefore she found no need to take the senator before the privileges committee.

However she said they could be interpreted as "reckless and ill-advised", especially since the author is a person who is "a serving Senator of this Parliament".

She said Seetahal is aware that "the interpretation and application of the Standing Orders is the sole discretion of the Presiding Officer, and so for a Senator to publicly comment negatively on the Speaker’s interpretation of the rules of this House...is more than a bit presumptuous."

She added Seetahal is the second most senior Senator on the Independent bench and could not argue that she was writing merely as a journalist.

"To compound her glaring disrespect of this House and its Chair, while all you Honourable Members of this House awaited my ruling, Senator Seetahal chose to call a press conference in this Parliament and reassert the rightfulness of her actions," Beckles noted.