POMAT IS RIGHT

by SIMON PENTANU (Former Parliament Clerk, Chief Ombudsman and AROB House Speaker)

The Speaker Hon Job Pomat is in order on all counts: in compliance with the procedures and practices of Parliament, in compliance with standing orders of the Parliament, an even legally (if lawyers want to go to town with the law).

The Speaker has taken corrective action on an erroneous ‘decision’ on the floor of the House that should not have been allowed to proceed by the Chair. The Clerk of the House is the first person that should have advised the Chair of the breach before, during and immediately after the proceedings that transpired.

Proceedings of the House are non-justiciable, and particularly in instances such as what happened where the House should and is capable, and competent, to go back and take its own corrective measures of proceedings and decisions in the House.

This is what the Speaker has done. It is his role to ensure the credibility, legitimacy and integrity of proceedings, rulings and decisions of the House are protected and maintained. This why Parliaments have Speakers whose role is to adjudicate independently and impartially on errors and slips like this in the House as they may occur from time to time.

And this is where the matter ends, by simply resuming the meeting of the House and taking corrective measures on the floor of the House where the error occurred in the first place (not in a court room).

Any legal action or proceeding that may be being mooted is like trying to fix a motorbike problem using Mercedes Benz solutions.

Let us look at this objectively leaving emotions, politics and realpolitik aside.

A return to normality in politics (if there is such a thing) is as important as giving the country and the people a sense of destiny and direction so that people can get on with their normal lives.