Yesterday’s sitting of Parliament was suspended after it was alleged that Minister of Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy had assaulted opposition Member of Parliament, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.
McCoy later issued a statement denying he had assaulted Sarabo-Halley, the former minister of the public service
The alleged incident took place in the corridors of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre just outside the parliamentary proceedings which were taking place in the main conference hall.
As reports of the incident came to light, opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones, stood in the House which had been resolved into the Commit-tee of Supply to consider the budget estimates and sought the reconvening of the assembly to deal with the allegations.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir told Jones that he was only allowed to ask questions on the item that they were then discussing. This comment sparked an uproar from the opposition members of parliament who began shouting “No”.
Nadir told the House that as they were in the Committee of Supply, the Chief Whip would have to wait for them to leave that committee and revert to the assembly so that the opposition members could be heard. As such he made a ruling and determined that they would continue with the item that was being discussed.
“We refuse! This matter is not a light matter, a female member of parliament was physically assaulted by Mr Kwame McCoy,” Jones told the House to the disapproval of the Speaker, who asked the opposition members to allow the House to continue on the matter that they were on. However, opposition members began protesting in the House as they banged on the tables and shouted “No!”. The sitting was then suspended as the members of the opposition continued their protest, shouting “Kwame must go.”
Meanwhile, Sarabo-Halley during a live report by the APNU+AFC stated that she was still in shock at what had transpired. The opposition parliamentarian said that she has been dealing with pervasive verbal abuse from McCoy ever since she has been in parliament. “He’s been verbally abusing me in a number of different ways, stating things about my hair, whether I’m dunce or not, so he has been always on this notion of attacking me verbally in parliament.”
Going into details on what exactly transpired, the former minister recounted that she had left the House sitting to make her way to the washroom and saw MP’s from the government’s side in a verbal battle with Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield, who was at parliament for the Consi-deration of Estimates for the Guyana Elections Commission.
“So they were really trying to get at him and he eventually left and we were still there, so Kwame approached me with a phone in his hand, apparently videotaping or something, I’m not sure what he was doing and so he was in my face less than a feet away from me, so I raised my hand to block him from recording me and he took his hand with the phone and just chucked me to my left temple”, Sarabo-Halley said.
Initially, Sarabo-Halley said that she went to the Speaker of the House and the Clerk of the National Assembly to report the incident and she was told to report the matter to the police. The MP disclosed that she has given a statement to the police.
Wasn’t alone
“I wasn’t alone, there were two persons that actually witnessed what happened because I thought I was alone on the corridor and when I turned around I saw two persons they were actually there and they saw everything that happened so it wouldn’t just be my word against him,” she noted.
Meanwhile a statement from the Minister of Public Affairs in response to the allegations noted, “I emphatically and completely deny that I assaulted Ms. Halley as she has alleged or at all. At no time did I touch Ms. Halley with my phone or any part of my body.”
Further McCoy averred that at the time in question he was outside the parliament chambers and had “completed” a verbal exchange with Lowenfield. “After Mr. Lowenfield’s departure, I began to speak with Minister Anand Persaud. I observed the presence of Ms. Halley who was approximately four feet away from me. We exchanged words, but there was absolutely no physical contact whatsoever,” the statement added.
The public affairs minister stated that the allegations are malicious, false, and intended to cause him ridicule. He also mentioned that following the report of the allegations, he observed postings on social media by the opposition MP which he believes are libellous and will take action.
Sarabo-Halley has indicated her unwillingness to re-enter the parliament chambers and sit close to the minister again. “I refuse to do that, he should not be permitted back in parliament, at least I will not be going into parliament with him there as a member of parliament.”
“I will not be sitting at parliament and I will be doing all I can… in terms of criminal charges, private criminal charges against Kwame McCoy on this matter”, Sarabo-Halley declared.
The Working People’s Alliance of which Sarabo-Halley was a member, in a press release, condemned the alleged act and noted that such action should not be tolerated and called for the minister to be suspended from the National Assembly.
Parliament was reconvened at around 7:55pm with government ministers present. The Speaker of the House reported the incident to the House and noted that a team comprised of the Prime Minister, Government Chief Whip, and the Leader of the Opposition, along with the Clerk of the Assembly met and another team was able to review video footage of what happened in the corridor.
“That team comprised of the Honourable Prime Minister, the Honourable Member Mr Christopher Jones, the Honourable Member Ms Natasha Singh-Lewis, and the Clerk of the National Assembly. The commander has reported that what has been witnessed on the tape cannot inform a decision of what has allegedly occurred and he has to now rely on statements from witnesses,” Nadir told the House.
Parliament was subsequently adjourned until 10 am today with a number of items that were expected to be discussed being left undone.
At a late-night virtual press conference, Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, also condemned the alleged actions of the minister.
Harmon backed up the statement made by Speaker Nadir in relation to the reviewing of the video footage and stated, “ unfortunately what that video footage showed was that there are some areas of the National Assembly that are not covered by the cameras and so this would have been one such area.”
“It offers you evidence of what may have happened before and after,” Harmon said as he described what he saw on the footage which was reviewed. He told the press conference that it shows McCoy shaking his phone however, at the point where the alleged incident would have occurred, there is no adequate coverage.
He noted that there has always been issues of cameras and coverage at the Conference Centre. Further the Opposition Leader said that the matter is being handled by the police as they have to now rely on eyewitness’ evidence as statements were taken from several persons. “I do believe that when this investigation is completed it will vindicate the statements that have been made by MP Sarabo-Halley,” he said
The Opposition Leader informed that the party will later make a decision on whether they will return to parliament following the alleged altercation.
