When there is disruption in the House during a division, the Clerk must stop taking the division

Dear Editor,

I wish to refer to the Stabroek News article of Thursday, 27th December, 2018, where Mr. Charrandas Persaud accused me of stopping the vote during the division on the no-confidence motion after he said yes, and wish to state that I did not stop after calling the name of Mr. Charrandas Persaud. I went on to call the name of Mr. Jermaine Figueira but paused due to the uproar which started as soon as Mr. Charrandas Persaud said yes. This can clearly be seen from video recordings of the division.

Mr. Charrandas Persaud may be a lawyer but Parliamentary Practice may evade him. Parliamentary Practice has taught me that, when there is disruption in the House during a division, the Clerk must stop taking the division. I therefore had no option but to stop and to ensure that the vote of the Member was correctly taken. This is the rule in Parliaments the world over.

I am aware that one of the risks of the job of the Clerk is that, when anything is perceived to have gone wrong, he or she is blamed for supporting one side of the House or the other. For example, in 2011, when I did not accede to the request of the then Opposition to convene a Sitting of the National Assembly to allow for a no-confidence motion to be moved, I was accused of being a supporter of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). On this occasion, because I paused to ensure that Mr. Charrandas Persaud’s vote was correctly taken, I am accused of being a supporter of the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government.

I wish to remind Mr. Charrandas Persaud that, as Clerk of the National Assembly, I have always performed the functions of my office professionally, that is, without fear, favour or partiality, and will continue to do so until the end of my tenure.

Yours faithfully,

S E Isaacs

Clerk of the National Assembly