Actions speak louder than words, Mr Speaker!

Sometimes they say a "picture is worth a thousand words" and that has proven to be so true; then there is another saying "actions speak louder than words" and that too has over time proven to be true as well...without question...Mr. Speaker?...!

...so when I read a news media report : " THE Government yesterday failed to answer a single question to Ministers incurring the derision of the Opposition and rebuke of Speaker Barry Sinanan"....!

..."At the start of the sitting, Leader of Government Business in the House, Colm Imbert said Government would be unable to answer any of the seven questions listed on the order paper..."!

...reading this...I could not help but feel insulted myself, and similarly for the Speaker of the House, Mr. Barry Sinanan, as this amounted to so much "disrespect to the extreme", not only to the Ministers who asked the questions, not only to ALL the people of Trinidad & Tobago, who incidently pays their salaries and are waiting patiently to hear the answers, but also and more importantly to the "Speaker of the House" himself personally, Mr.Barry Sinanan, who had to "rebuke them",... not "suspend them"... but "rebuke them"...?

...and to add insult to injury, salt to the wound so to speak......the report  went on ..."Further at least  a dozen other questions posed last week and deferred for a forthnight remained unanswered although not appearing on this week's order paper"...!

..."Expressing his disappointment, Sinanan yet again urged Ministers to ensure replies were ready, saying tardiness was an  to theaffront House, while Couva South MP Kevin Ramnath loudly muttered: "A total lack of respect."...!

...(affront := insult openly, face defiantly ; open insult : - as per the Oxford dictionary )

...these were legitimate questions being asked by the Government's Opposition Members in the House carrying out the "business of the people of Trinidad and Tobago" through and by its government of the day,  and they  either don't have answers or bluntly refuse to provide answers to the people and the house...and are unwilling to say so...!

...such shameful and total disregard for the Speaker of the House, not to mention the "total and extreme disrespect" and open insult for the house, and all they get in return is a "rebuke", a slap on the proverbial wrist, not a day suspeneion, not  a week suspension, nothing, nada, but a silly rebuke from the Speaker...?

...and as I recall, this is not the first time this has happened, this has been happening with increasing frequency throughout this government's last term in office and now it has started all over again, and all under the auspices of the same Speaker of the House, Barry Sinanan...!

...as I also recalled, the last person who "disrespected the Speaker of the House was suspended for the entire session of the sitting of the house, that is how firm and thorough was the "Speaker of the House"...as I recalled him saying something to the extent, it was not the laptop, it was his disrespect for the speaker of the house, that brought down the wrath of the speaker and his ultimate suspension.....not "rebuke", but a full blown suspension....!

....so my question to the speaker really is ...when is disrespect,  not disrespect, and what are your qualifiers  or grading  or sliding scale of reference, as to which ones get a "rebuke" and which ones qualify for a "full term suspension" of sitting of the people's parliament....!

....the speaker of the house must not only be impartial and free of bias of any kind, but must also independantly demonstrate it both in actions and words  ...!

...unfortunately puppets can't do or act independantly, since they are activated by the pulling of strings attached to them...except in most cases you can't see the strings...they are hidden and concealed from the public view....!

...it is time the speaker of the house cut loose those strings and act and respond of his own free will and volition in carrying out the "people's business", the people of Trinidad and Tobago's business...not a party's business as is so evident in most of his actions...and as I said before...actions speak louder than words...maybe the speaker of the house is not listening, or maybe he is also vision impaired and can't see the actions which are speaking volumes to everyone else, save and except he himself who is being disrespected the most...by the Government's Ministers, day in and day out at each house sitting ....at which time he gets to decide when  disrespect is no longer disrespect...or which ones gets to be qualified as such in his mind...!

...this is not about laptops, Mr. Speaker, this is about total and extreme disrespect to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and yourself....! it is very clear...to all...!

...get a backbone, get a spine, stand up and speak Mr. Speaker, let your voice be heard loud and clear , stop waffling and suspend the whole bunch of them, just like you did the member of the opposition party, you have the power, you have the authority...!

....so what's stopping you, Mr. Speaker, the people are watching and waiting...remember they can't see the string...they can't see the colour yellow either, but "rebuke", stop being a puppet and get real, get a life....!

...goodluck...Trinit.o.o