By Sam Basil MP

The National Parliament Speaker Hon. Jeffery Nape has eroded the spirit of democracy for three consecutive years as the Speaker of this eighth Parliament and continues to do.

When I became a Member of Parliament I was given a copy of the Constitution (the edited version July, 2007). When I started browsing through the Speakers role and responsibilities I started to realise his unprofessional and undemocratic conduct.

The Constitution states clearly in Section 108(1) that, The Speaker is responsible, subject to and in accordance with the Constitutional Laws, the Acts of Parliament and the Standing Orders of the Parliament, for upholding the dignity of the Parliament, maintaining order in it, regulating its proceedings and administering its affairs, and for controlling the precincts of the Parliament as defined by or under an Act of the Parliament.

The Speaker Hon. Jeffery Nape’s decisions and actions so far on the floor of Parliament have clearly shown that he is irresponsible and his conducts were not subjected to as in accordance with the Constitutional Laws, the Act of Parliament and the Standing Orders of the Parliament. Simply there is no more democratic process in the proceedings of parliament.

In the last sitting of Parliament the speaker;

1. Failed to entertain the motion of no confidence notice which was officially handed to the speaker’s office at 0930hrs on the 21.07.10. 
2. Failed to entertain the Noes call by the opposition followed by division call which was seconded against the leader of government business who proposed that the parliament at its rising be adjourned till November 16 2010.
3. Failed yet again to entertain the Noes call by the opposition followed by division call which was seconded against the leader of government business who proposed again that the parliament is now adjourned until November 16 2010.

Surprisingly the parliament clerk Mr Don Pandan has excluded the division calls from the copies of Hansard distributed a week after the session. The National Parliament clerk has also failed his constitutional duties to properly advise the speaker to act in accordance with the constitutional laws, the Acts of Parliament and the Standing Orders of the Parliament and he must also be referred to the Ombudsman Commission.

We have heard that during the intense lobbying two very influential government MPs spent three hours with the speaker. The Speaker’s undemocratic rulings on the floor that week also raises many questions regarding the integrity of the chair.

Is the Speaker above the law? Why haven’t the relevant authorities stepped in to address all the corruption claims against the Speaker including his undemocratic conduct on the chair beginning from the 7th and into this 8th Parliament?

If the Speaker is clearly above the law then he can be termed as the most powerful MP on the floor which means that if he decides to market his rulings to the highest bidder then he can break all the laws under the sun to do so.

Last week denial of the opposition’s rights to call for the division has seen the Speaker’s office denying the rights of almost 3 million people that those 45 members of parliament represent in the opposition. If the Speaker of the National Parliament is marketing his rulings on the floor then he must come clear to the 6.5m people of this nation.

Maybe it is time now for the ordinary people to directly vote a Speaker of Parliament into office who can be independent from political influences the candidates must go through a series of stringent screening process and criteria with educational qualifications and most importantly ex convict and criminals should be excluded from day one.

I will also take to the ordinary grassroots people to explain the Speaker’s conducts on the floor while he will be called to open forums to explain his undemocratic conducts there is no hope anymore for us the elected MPs to exercise our rights and freedom on the floor on behalf of our people.