Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin yesterday berated former House of Assembly Speaker Halson Moultrie for the way she was treated in Parliament, as she defended House Speaker Patricia Deveaux and accused the opposition of being hypocritical.
Hanna-Martin said Moultrie’s behavior was “egregious”, noting that she was even banned from using the words “straw market” in the House of Assembly.
“I was here and that was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in this Parliament because I could not speak, I was treated differently, I was oppressed, and the nation saw it,” Hanna-Martin said, responding to comments made by Marco City MP Michael Pintard.
“…When you were government and you sat in the government, you spent a whole day in debate to name me, when the speaker called people ‘powder puff’, attacked the wives of members and the most egregious language and assault and attacks, but you didn’t think that it rose to that level.
“So, I’m shocked that you see anything that happened in this Parliament post-September 2021 that makes you so uncomfortable.”
She added, “During that period, when the nation saw it, and you didn’t see it…all of a sudden now you take some righteous positioning on positions taken by this speaker.
“And the only point being made is there appears to be a level of hypocrisy and disingenuous positioning on the matter.”
Hanna-Martin was responding to claims made by Pintard and Elizabeth MP JoBeth Coleby-Davis.
Coleby-Davis had spoken in support of House of Assembly Speaker Deveaux, following a row in the House Monday evening.
At the time, Deveaux told members she was ashamed of the way members from both sides behaved during the debate.
After one of her comments, a member of the opposition accused Deveaux of talking to them as if they were children. Pintard repeated that accusation yesterday.
Coleby-Davis, however, said it was interesting that those in the opposition, who were all members of Parliament when Moultrie was speaker, did not defend Hanna-Martin at the time.
Pintard, however, accused Coleby-Davis of making the issue about gender.
“I think the discussion about respect for the chair is not an issue of gender,” Pintard said.
“It is a difference of opinion on whether on not we believe we are spoken to in a particular way. There are no misogynists on this side. There are no chauvinists on this side. And I don’t believe in this House that members opposite are misogynist or chauvinistic.
“…The exchange between Madame Speaker and any member of this side has nothing to do with gender. It has to do with a basic appeal for no bias against us, the appropriate tone to be used when speaking to us. And that is all we desire.”
Pintard claimed that Moultrie did not treat Hanna-Martin the way he did because she is a woman, but instead because she was the most “vigorous” defender of the Progressive Liberal Party.
“I don’t think it was a gender issue,” he said.
The post Hanna-Martin accuses FNM of hypocrisy over House speaker appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/hanna-martin-accuses-fnm-of-hypocrisy-over-house-speaker/
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