APNU MP Volda Lawrence yesterday defended her actions during crucial voting in the National Assembly on Thursday, which resulted in several government spending measures being passed even though the joint opposition had intended to slash them.
Leader of the Opposition David Granger yesterday said that APNU will be conducting an investigation into the twist of events which saw government outvoting the opposition on a number of allocations brought in financial papers to the National Assembly after Lawrence said she fell ill.
Lawrence at one stage left the Chamber, rushing out without the customary bow before the Speaker on entry and exit. When she later returned, she seemed disoriented and unsteady. The failure of her vote to register enabled funding for the controversial Specialty Hospital to be approved.
Speaking at a press conference held yesterday at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Granger addressed the issue when questioned by members of the media.
“My information was that in the first instance Mrs. Lawrence left the Chamber because she was not well. Two other MPs went to assist her and one actually came back and asked for some medication which Lawrence had in her bag and took that medication to her. When she came back and sat in her chair she was obviously distraught and I heard no sound from her,” said Granger. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘abstain’ but there was no sound from her and the vote was taken,” said Granger.
“So this matter has to be investigated as to whether there was a breakdown in communication. My information is that she was ill and that is what I am working towards. I haven’t been able to meet with her as yet,” he said.
Asked whether members had to vote along a certain line, Granger said, “We have a Shadow Cabinet and Mrs Lawrence is a part of that Shadow Cabinet. We take decisions collectively and we also have APNU Parliamentary Group [which meets once a month].”
He said that while there was no caucus of the APNU members yesterday, the Shadow Cabinet took decisions on the vote affecting the Specialty Hospital, “and we have a long standing position on all matters effecting Mr. Clement Rohee’s Ministry so our positions were clear,” he said.
Granger said that he is yet to determine what happened. “My information from last night is that she left because she was unwell,” he asked. Asked why it was that Lawrence stayed in the Chamber when she was not well enough to exercise her vote, Granger said, “I down have all the answers at this time as I said it is being investigated.”
‘I took ill’
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Lawrence said that for the vote on the Specialty Hospital, she was in the Chamber when the question was put for its approval or disapproval in the Committee. “I was in the room when it was put and I took ill,” she said. “I was waiting on the vote and I could not wait anymore or else I would have puked [there and then] on the people around me,” Lawrence said.
She insisted, however, that she voted against the Amerindian projects allocation of $500m and the allocation for the Ministry of Health though those weren’t officially registered as negations. “The only one I abstained from is the vote for the allocation for the Ministry of Home Affairs,” she said in a weak and feeble voice.
Convinced that she voted against two of the allocations and abstained on only one, Lawrence telephoned Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs yesterday to challenge what she said had to be a mistake in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper in recording the way the votes went. According to her, Isaacs on the other end of the line confirmed the information that Stabroek News had as being correct. She, however, insisted that she voted against the Amerindian projects in the amount of $500 million allocation as well as the allocation for the Ministry of Health’s Specialty Hospital – an amount of $34.4 million. “The [allocations for] the Ministry of Home Affairs were taken as a block vote and by the time I could speak to [Opposition Chief Whip Amna Ally] about it, [APNU MP] Annette Ferguson had already started to say no,” she said.
The allocation was presented on Financial Paper 2/2013 – Advances made from the Contingencies Fund for the period August 13, 2013 to November 5, 2013 – and covered a number of activities including office materials, rental of building, polygraph testing, training of the SWAT Unit and dietary supplies.
Lawrence said that she did not want to vote against some of the contentious items in the allocation to the detriment of the non-contentious ones and therefore abstained on that and only that occasion. “I cannot recognise something as a fault and still [be a part of it]. I am an individual. I must be able to think,” she said. “I said yes to the other two but it was inaudible,” she said.
Lawrence said that she will write Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman explaining her actions with a view to setting the record straight.
Asked what her reaction was to APNU’s decision to investigate her actions on Thursday night, Lawrence said that this is something she was expecting. “I expect that we will have a discussion about it and have the matter dealt with. I am looking forward to that,” she said.
According to information reaching this newspaper, it is likely that the record in the National Assembly will stand as is, since the period for making appeals of such nature would have been following the Speaker’s official announcement of the results of the vote as tabulated by the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk.
An observer said that it was strange that Lawrence would be unsure of how her party was voting since she was 28th in line and she would have had 27 opportunities in hearing what line the party was voting. The observer said that this might mean that she was convinced of herself that she was voting along the party lines but the reality was that she was not loud enough.
There have been several occasions where opposition MPs have failed to properly vote allowing key government initiatives to pass the House where the opposition has a wafer-thin one seat majority. A key vote in the Public Accounts Committee in parliament also went against the opposition after one of their MPs was unable to be present for the meeting.
