APNU+AFC MPs yesterday staged a walkout from Parliament following derogatory remarks from the governing benches towards a female MP.
Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones told Stabroek News last night that apart from the vile statements directed towards Shadow Finance Minister Juretha Fernandes by government MPs, Kwame McCoy and Anand Persaud, a meeting requested by female opposition parliamentarians to address this issue was called off by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir.
According to Jones, this prompted the female parliamentarians to walk out, as their view is that this level of disrespect must end.
When approached by Stabroek News last night to ask if any disciplinary actions would be taken against government ministers Persaud and McCoy, Nadir said that he dealt with the matter internally following a meeting with Government and Opposition Chief Whips Gail Teixeira and Jones on Tuesday.
Further pressed by this newspaper to find out if disciplinary action will be taken, the Speaker responded by saying, “Any matter regarding what is being said in parliament is my business, I don’t listen to what people say, [and] I dealt with matters internally.”
Asked by this newspaper his thoughts on the statements made by McCoy and Persaud towards Fernandes, Nadir said “I can only respond to what I heard, not what is being said online and as I said I discussed this yesterday with the chief whips and it was settled internally.”
However, the Opposition Chief Whip said that this was far from the truth.
“What I can tell you is that the matter was not resolved. What we spoke about and agreed upon is the decorum in the house and there were discussions between the whips that we will try to monitor our members as it relates to the heckling, loud behaviour and so forth. We want to have a smooth flow of the National Assembly, that was what we discussed”, Jones said.
He continued, “As it relates to the specific shouts and derogatory remarks from Kwame McCoy and Anand Persaud, that matter was not dealt with.”
Asked if the parliamentarians will return to the house to participate in days 4 and 5 of the budget debate presentations, the Opposition Chief Whip said that this action was taken to bring attention to the increase in incivility, insults, and attacks, directed at females notably in the National Assembly and via social media.
Moreover, he said the MPs will return to the National Assembly and participate in the proceedings, once there are no more recurrences, outbursts, and vituperative attacks from government ministers.
According to a press statement issued by the APNU+AFC, these attacks foster the culture of violence against women and also reflect the resistance by many to accept the rights of women to fully and equally participate in the nation’s political and public life and to fully express views, concerns, and aspirations.
“There is no doubt that these acts by PPP members of the House are geared towards disrespecting and intimidating our women Parliamentarians and are coming from a sexist mindset that believes a woman’s place is at home – that she must be seen and not heard,” the release stated.
The statement continued “We have news for these male chauvinists. Since 1976, the women of this country have been given the green light to stand tall and make our contributions toward family, community, and country through the State Paper on Equality for Women laid in this National Assembly.”
The APNU+AFC maintained that its women parliamentarians will not waver from their objectives to stand equally with men and contribute towards the development of women and girls in society.
The Parliamentary Opposition charged the Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, to bring an end to this despicable behaviour and gross disrespect to the Parliamentarians of the Parliament of Guyana.
Meanwhile, Fernandes told Stabroek News that several ministers of government apologised to her on behalf of ministers McCoy and Persaud, following their actions.
McCoy who is Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs at the Office of the Prime Minister, and Persaud who is Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, were on Monday heard calling Fernandes various names associated with women of ill repute.
Fernandes related that since last year she was being verbally abused by McCoy and other government officials and no action was taken.
Last might, the women parliamentarians of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic said that they reject the hypocrisy of the APNU+AFC who walked out of the house over misogynistic remarks.
According to a release from the PPP/C, this is a contrived effort to distract from the good measures laid out in the budget for Guyanese. The statement charged that every day, the APNU+AFC would hurl racist, sexist, homophobic remarks to the women of the PPP/C.
It has been alleged by the ruling party that Cathy Hughes recently referred to the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand as ‘sitira gyal’.
According, to the statement, over the last few days, Coretta McDonald posted the most sexist comments on her page referring to female PPP/C MPs.
“The vilest, most racist and sexist comments about our female MPs come from the women of the APNU+AFC parliamentarians,” the statement said.
“The PPP/C women members of parliament condemn all attacks on and about women and men from any side of the house. We are resolute that we will always support and facilitate the growth of women, children, the elderly and Guyanese as a whole as is evidenced in the budgetary provisions made.”
The release added, “It was one of our MPs who intervened to prevent further embarrassment of their female colleague who was at the podium incapacitated.”
