In the National Assembly |03 November 2021
Hon. Pillay and US caucus walk out
Members of the National Assembly for United Seychelles yesterday walked out of the house over what leader of the oppositionSebastien Pillay described as partiality (bias) coming from the seat of the Speakership, which should strive to remain neutral.
The situation escalated yesterday afternoon after Speaker Roger Mancienne called on the leader of the opposition, Sebastien Pillay, to leave the chambers while it was in session which he did so with the rest of his caucus.
This came after Speaker Mancienne called Hon. Pillay out for frequently raising points of orders or matters of privilege that the Speaker felt often yielded in no result, adding that this just added interruptions to the National Assembly sessions.
“I want to respect your right to do so but I am often disappointed because it adds nothing to how I can better manage the Assembly. The issue here is liberalism; we are too liberal and we let everyone talk and this is taken advantage of. This is the same for our government who gives the people the right to express themselves and what do we see near the clock tower? People with placards saying ‘remove this fool from State House’,” stated Speaker Mancienne.
Following this note from the Speaker, Hon. Pillay stated that the Speaker’s speech was a spectacle and further accused Speaker Mancienne of not being impartial.
“How can you as the Speaker go ahead to lecture me and discredit me when I ask to be heard?[…] You will respect me in the National Assembly as well as this side of the table. You refuse to respect us and we are not ready to listen to you as Speaker because you are clearly biased in your decision making,” said Hon. Pillay.
Earlier the same day, Speaker Mancienne had replied unsatisfactorily to Hon. Pillay’s statement made by President Wavel Ramkalawan in regards to MNAs who may have connection with drug trafficking during his address last week, which added fuel to yesterday’s altercation.
In his ruling, Speaker Mancienne said the conduct of the president, vice-president and speaker should not be referred to except upon a motion moved upon that purpose.
“What is relevant here is that we are not here to judge the president or find faults in his statement. I did not find any other reference in the standing order or other legislation that goes against this, so there is no basis to what the leader of the opposition raised. My ruling is that the National Assembly’s privilege was not affected,” explained Speaker Mancienne.
Hon. Pillay remained adamant that the statement from the president which called into question the conduct of an MNA has established a bad precedence in the National Assembly.
Elsie Pointe