Speaker of the House of Representative Wade Mark, who last week faced a battery of criticism for mistaking a High Court stamp as the official letterhead of the Judiciary, may be facing yet another hurdle—a criminal charge of misconduct in office.
This from former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC who is now researching whether Mark could be investigated for such a charge.
Mark on Friday apologised for his error in Parliament and to the Judiciary for his mistake during a motion of censure against Finance Minister Larry Howai filed by Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner.
At a press conference on Sunday, Maharaj said Mark failed in his duty to protect Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union president general Ancel Roget, a private citizen, when Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar made defamatory remarks about him in Parliament last December.
He was speaking at the OWTU’s headquarters where Roget announced that the union had retained Maharaj’s legal services.
Roget said Persad-Bissessar made defamatory comments about him during her contribution on the Public Prosecution and Disposal of Public Property Bill in December.
The head of the Joint Trade Union Movement (Jtum) recalled that he wrote two letters to Mark on December 11 and January 19, asking that his response to the Prime Minister’s attack on his character be read into the Hansard record since the PM’s allegations were unfounded.
However, Roget said he received a reply from the Clerk of the House on January 20, stating that Mark denied his request.
Maharaj said no civil action could be taken against either the Prime Minister or the Speaker of the House because the PM’s statement was protected by parliamentary privilege.
“The Speaker of the House of Representatives does not only have the power, he has the duty to prevent a Member of Parliament from defaming a private individual, who is not a member of the House.”
“I have a duty to the union to see if he can be prosecuted and if he can be prosecuted I will get the consent of Mr Roget and I will send a letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
He said the Prime Minister’s comments coincided with a public march led by Roget against the government calling for an end to corruption.
“The only reasonable inference which can be drawn by any reasonable person is that the Prime Minister was trying to get at Mr Roget. So what the Speaker did is that he allowed the privileges of the Parliament to be abused and misused by the Prime Minister to settle a personal score against Mr Ancel Roget.
“That is misconduct of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The whole purpose of the Constitution giving immunity to MPs for whatever they say in Parliament is really to protect the public interest.