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(Trinidad Express) People’s National Movement (PNM) chairman Marvin Gonzales has condemned the manner in which Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles was sent to the Privileges Committee after she completed her three-and-a-half-hour response to the budget Friday as a “public lynching”. He explained that no member of the Opposition was aware that any member of the House had approached the Speaker requesting leave to raise a matter of privileges on the floor of the Parliament. He also described the situation as a “disrespect”. “This is just not a procedural flaw or irregularity; it is a scandalous disrespect for the standard orders of the Parliament of T&T and a public lynching of the Leader of the Opposition and a member of Parliament, and that should concern every citizen in T&T. It was well planned and well choreographed. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they were prepared to breach the standing orders in the Parliament of T&T to create a distraction and to publicly lynch the Leader of the Opposition,” he said. The announcement that Beckles was sent to the Privileges Committee came from Deputy Speaker Dr Aiyna Ali immediately after Beckles took her seat after delivering her first budget reply as Opposition Leader in Parliament. In giving the ruling, Ali referred to having received the request with respect to the matter of privilege from Couva South MP Barry Padarath. However, speaking on Saturday at a news conference at Balisier House in Port of Spain, Gonzales said the issue of privilege is governed by Standing Order 32 and he claimed those Standing Orders were breached. “Standing Order 32 —Any Member desiring to raise a matter under this Standing Order shall first obtain leave of the Speaker who shall determine whether the Member is entitled to raise the matter as a question of privilege,” he read. “If permission is given by the Speaker under paragraph (2) this Standing Order, the Member so permitted may raise it any time after question time and move that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.” “No debate shall ensue on a Motion under this (Standing) Order, but if the Speaker decides that a prima facie case has been made out he shall so state and refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges.” Gonzales reported, however, that on Friday, “The Deputy Speaker of the House, who was in the chair at that point in time, as soon as the Leader of the Opposition completed her contribution and her response, the Deputy Speaker rose, and she informed members that she had received a motion of privilege that was filed by the MP for Couva South, Leader of Government Business Barry Padarath, who raised a motion of privilege against the Leader of the Opposition for a press release that was issued by the Office of the Opposition Leader, which raised certain issues concerning the manner in which the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Jagdeo Singh) has been conducting the affairs of the House. “And in that regard, we were astonished to hear the Deputy Speaker saying that she has received that motion, and having received that motion or given leave for the motion, she has considered the motion, and she has determined that a prima facie case has been made out against the Leader of the Opposition to be sent to the committee of privileges. “We were astonished because, first, we weren’t aware that any member of the House had approached the Speaker requesting leave to raise a matter of privileges on the floor of the Parliament. And if that is the case and the Speaker grants the leave, the member reads out the motion on the floor of the Parliament, not behind closed doors. It is not a kangaroo court; it is nothing that you have to do in secret, but it appears that in this case all of these things were shrouded in secrecy in some dark room in the Parliament that we have to discover where it is located,” he said. He continued, “And what makes this matter more astonishing and perhaps scandalous is that the Deputy Speaker said that having received the motion, she has determined that a prima facie case has been made out against the Leader of the Opposition. We sat in the Parliament in the last two occasions, and we checked the records and we did not see in the records of the Parliament where leave was sought to raise this matter on the floor of the Parliament. But here we are the Deputy Speaker is informing the entire Parliament and the world that she gave leave, the matter was raised and she considered it. But it was never raised.” Gonzales stressed that the Opposition member checked the Hansard and it was nowhere on the record that the matter was raised in accordance with the Standing Orders of the Parliament by the member for Couva South and Minister of Public Utilities. “But yet the Deputy Speaker said that she considered the matter and she determined that a prima facie case was made out and referred the Leader of the Opposition to the Privileges Committee,” he said. The motion involved the walkout staged by Opposition members at the sitting on October 10, 2025, which was followed by a subsequent statement by the Opposition Leader in which she stated that “after months of enduring bias and prejudicial behaviour from the presiding officer of the lower House (Jagdeo Singh), all Members of Parliament on the Opposition bench were left with no choice” but to leave the sitting. Ali said Beckles stated further that “the pattern of unfair treatment and rulings has continued unchecked and unaddressed. It is now beyond question to unbiased observers that the current Speaker of the House has failed in his duty to act impartially and to uphold the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.”
