SPECIAL REPORT ​: MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE – PARLIAMENTARIAN CHARANDASS PERSAUD DROPPED A TIME BOMB WITH HIS SIGNIFICANT “YES”

Nightly News brings a special report of the final proceedings of the Motion of No- Confidence in the coalition government which was tabled by the Opposition Peoples Progressive Party and debated in the National Assembly on Friday, December 21.
The Government’s side of the House went into a tailspin when AFC
Parliamentarian Charandass Persaud dropped a time bomb with his significant  “yes” that gave the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic a one-vote majority in the vote on the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition against the government.
Members of the opposition PPP/Civic were first called upon to cast their vote on the motion after several hours of debate in the House. They all voted in favour of the motion while all government member were at ease, some smiling as their turn came around to vote. Then came the big shock.

That significant vote should be heard once again.

The vote stalled for a while as colleagues of the AFC Parliamentarian beseeched him to change his vote. Then the Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence requested from the Speaker an unusual timeout, apparently with a view to injecting a sense of loyalty into her colleague MP who had already sunk the boat. But the Speaker would have none of it.

To the dismay of Opposition members of the House, the Speaker allowed the Clerk of the Assembly to call a recount of government’s votes from the start, but the AFC Parliamentarian did not recant.

And there, the die was cast. The Opposition Motion was passed.
A somber Opposition Leader made these remarks when all Members of the house settled down with the understanding that general elections will be run off sooner than the government members had anticipated.

Now back to the man of the moment, MP Charandass Persaud…it appears that the dissenting MP had some very old grievances.
The governing Coalition stated it was not aware of the grievances of the dissenting MP Mr. Persaud since he apparently kept his cards close to his chest. The Minister of Public Security has assured that arrangements are in place to ensure Mr. Persaud’s personal security until he leaves to go abroad on Saturday morning.
In the meantime, the constitution dictates that general elections be held within 90 days of the vote of no confidence in the government, unless postponed by a two-thirds majority of House.