The jury’s verdict is in.
The motion of no confidence first submitted by His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition on 26 August cannot be discussed in the People’s House before some date in 2025 to be determined by the Speaker with the concurrence of the Leader of Government Business. So says the Rules of the House.
This is the first motion of no confidence, of which we are aware, that has created such a hullabaloo in the House and a rumpus in the community.
At heart is a question of solidarity whilst the Territory is going through a difficult Commission of Inquiry imposed, with cause, by the British. The unintended consequence is that government services have become highly inefficient and the community, in general, is not well served.
Perhaps, wrapped up in the ire of the front bench is its perception that the Opposition’s motion is tantamount to treason.
And that motion was the cause of some musical chairs with the public dismissal of a Deputy Premier who, at the time, was experiencing grief over the death of her brother whose funeral she was planning.
The deceased, by accounts, had acted more as a father to her than a brother. So, she was not as focused on the motion as she was required to be.
At the time, she did not give the Premier the assurance he sought and, so, lost her position and her seat on the government side of the House.
A major pillar of our economy is suffering as a result but that may merely be collateral damage.
She now sits with the Opposition that she left, on the night of 24 April 2023, to help to form the government.
Students of Shakespeare would call that dramatic irony. Others less astute will label it ‘karma.’ Meanwhile, the body politic keeps the score.
It all seems like democracy is at work and BVI is a democratic Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
But if we are a democracy, why such strident efforts to stop the Opposition from tabling a motion in the House, that is bound to fail, especially since the Premier has availed himself of a new Deputy whose support is sure and assured?
Last we knew, when the Hon. Speaker called on the Opposition Leader to move the motion on 30 October, the government side walked out of the People’s House.
And if the Speaker was in any doubt that the session could continue, an Honorable Member was sent back to inform her that a quorum of the Members no longer existed.
So, we are left to speculate about the haste in severing a ‘head’ over a motion that, after all, appears not to be urgent to the front bench and, which handling, calls the democratic process into question.
Usually, the staged theatrics of walking out of the House lie in the domain of the Opposition. For the government side, this may be a first.
Trinidad calypsonian Wayne Hade “The Watchman” sang “The freedom of Democracy.”
“We love to claim daily that we have a democracy and this is the land where freedom prevails…..
…..Is criticizing your government really the wrong approach? And are our leaders in Parliament above and beyond reproach?
Since all freedom for mankind comes from sacrifice, then democracy surely gorn have a price.”
What price are we paying for what passes as democracy nowadays? Our children are fast learners.
Commemorating the Great March of 1949 in 2024 as we just did on Monday, with both sides of the House present, was commendable.
But was it just (to borrow from Othello) pomp and circumstance braced by pageantry? How are the current standard bearers demonstrating the principles of freedom and democracy for which our ancestors fought? And in recognition of which, we marched?
We just hope, on our Fridays, that our expectations in our sunset years do not correspond to the education we are providing the children of the Territory.
If those two fields Intersect, our disappointment would know no bounds.
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Friday.