(Trinidad Express) “Mr Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning is accordingly suspended from the service of this House with immediate effect,” declared House Speaker Wade Mark on Monday night.
Mark did not state for what period of time but a suspension cannot cross a session of Parliament, which is the maximum threshold for a suspension. This session ends on June 18.
A suspension is terminated either by a resolution of the House of Representatives or upon prorogation.
Manning would lose his parliamentary salary during this period. Though Manning’s prime ministerial pension would remain untouched by the suspension.
By a vote of 25 for, nine against, the House of Representatives voted to accept the findings of the Privileges Committee that Patrick Manning committed a contempt when he made allegations against Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and imposed the maximum penalty on the former prime minister.
Among those absent was Manning.
