House Speaker to Opposition Leader: Oh No!

On September fifth, the Leader of the Opposition, Moses “Shyne” Barrow wrote to the Speaker of the House, Valerie Woods, asking her to remove two elected representatives from the U.D.P.’s side of the floor. The ongoing dispute between Barrow and the faction that calls itself Alliance for Democracy has been festering for quite some time and has reached new levels. It has gone before the House Speaker, where Barrow sought her intervention to remove his party colleagues from the house. But the speaker told reporters today that she cannot grant his request because it is not permitted under the Constitution.

 

Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House

“I responded and I laid it out based on the sections that the leader of opposition cited why the threshold was not met and therefore no such declaration will be made at the house meeting. One members of the House of Representatives. I have received no resignation that has been tendered to any of the party leaders regarding any of their members having resigned. A careful look at the Constitution, particularly at the sections cited, will demonstrate that the threshold has not been met, the criteria has not been met, and therefore I can’t – the Speaker is not in a position to make any such declaration.”

 

Reporter

“This idea of “constructively resigned” based on your knowledge of the Constitution, does this actually exist? Is this a legitimate term?”

 

Valerie Woods

“The terminology used, “constructively resigned” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, but more importantly, what appears in the Constitution under the sections cited – that would be the [Section] 59, what appears there is a very clear indication of how a member makes an announcement or pronouncement or notification of his or her resignation and that has not occurred.”