A motion of no confidence in Charliena White, speaker of the Montserrat Legislative Assembly, has been deferred for a second time.
On 25 June, opposition member Donaldson Romeo said both sides of the house had suggested postponing the motion because of the “uncomfortable situation in which key persons would have been placed today”.
Just the week prior, former parliamentary secretary Veronica Dorsette-Hector had resigned from her role with the government after switching party allegiance to United Alliance.
This then led opposition member David Osborne to temporarily cross the floor in parliament to sit with government members in order to assist with the passing of two finance bills.
Name in mud
Following Romeo’s request for deferral, Deputy Premier Samuel Joseph stood to say he did not support it as the matter had already been taken to the assembly.
“The matter has also been debated in the public before he has come to this house on multiple media houses… dragging the name of the speaker through the mud,” he said.
Joseph asked that it either be taken off the agenda or debated the same day.
Romeo responded that the speaker should not be subjected to the debate and the deputy speaker was not comfortable to sit in the position at that time.
A vote resulted in five for, two against and one abstaining from a deferral.
First deferral
Romeo first decided to defer the motion on 30 April following a discussion with Premier Joseph E Farrell, opposition leader Paul Lewis and other assembly members.
“I decided and agreed that is in the best interest of all government, opposition, honourable speaker and the country that I defer the motion of no confidence,” he said at the time.
Instead he opted for a discussion among members “to clarify the issues surrounding the resolutions that were rejected”, he said at the end of the day’s session.
Romeo added: “I’m hoping that the general public will understand that it is always best to try and fix things in house and that is what I’m willing to do.”
The results of the discussion were to be taken to the assembly at a later date.
‘A serious violation’
During a radio interview on 14 April, Romeo said he planned to table a motion of no confidence in the speaker.
His decision came after she blocked him from presenting a resolution on increasing financial support for the vulnerable that he sought to have the assembly debate.
Charliena White disallowed the resolution on the grounds that she deemed it incompatible with Montserrat’s parliamentary processes.
In a letter to Romeo and other members on 28 February, she said the opposition cannot bring motions which may result in the drawing of money from the consolidated fund.
But the opposition member argued that the assembly’s standing orders allow any member of the Montserrat Legislative Assembly to propose a resolution.
He said her decision was “a serious violation and I can’t allow it to happen”, adding that it could shape the future of parliament in Montserrat.
