Promises not ‘broken’ says PPM

Kurt Tibbetts	Alden McLaughlin	McKeeva Bush

Thursday, May 19, 2005 

The decision by the newly elected People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) Government to appoint their North Side Legislative Assembly representative political veteran and stalwart, Edna Moyle, as Speaker of the House, has opened the first floodgates of criticism from former United Democratic Party (UDP) chief and newly re-elected member of the Legislative Assembly, McKeeva Bush.

Mr Bush had said that he was surprised the PPM had chosen one of its own for the position when they had been outspoken about the need for a neutral Speaker.

The basis for Mr Bush’s criticism is a claim that the PPM had promised that the appointee to such a post would not have party affiliations and that Ms Moyle’s appointment seems to be in obvious contravention of such a promise.

In response to Mr Bush’s claim, the PPM’s General Secretary, Alden McLaughlin and new Cabinet member said: “It is still very much the position of the PPM to have the office of Speaker of the House be an autonomous one.

“However, it is highly inaccurate to say that this was a campaign promise. This point is not mentioned in the PPM’s Manifesto.

“The position of the Speaker of the House was spoken through debate on the constitution. From the standpoint of the separation of powers, we are still dedicated to the autonomy of the post. However, until the constitutional issue over the position is addressed, we consider this a transitional period and we also consider Ms Edna Moyle’s appointment to be a temporary one,” added Mr McLaughlin. He pointed out that a Speaker still needs to be in place before the constitution is addressed, not least because of the numerous pressing issues facing the new Government.

“However we needed to have someone in place as there is quite a lot of business that needs to be addressed within the next couple of weeks and the budget is one example,” said Mr McLaughlin.

“This has to be ready for the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1. Against the background of the immediate need to have a Speaker appointed, the appointment was made.

“The only other person with the relevant experience was Mr Linford Pierson. However, Mr Pierson has dedicated the past six weeks to unsubstantiated criticism of the PPM. Against this fact, the reality is that his clear position towards the Government was not one that would foster an environment that would instill confidence in the new government.”

Speaking to the same matter in his first official statement, PPM’s party leader, Kurt Tibbetts said: “In a maturing democracy such as ours we believe that it is important that the office of Speaker is separated from the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs and becomes autonomous as it is in most democracies.”

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