St Andrew Western Member of Parliament Anthony Hylton has called for the censure motion he moved against the Government on November 3 to be returned to Parliament’s Order Paper, giving members of the Lower House an opportunity to participate in the debate.
After Hylton introduced the motion, Leader of Government Business Floyd Green responded and then called for the debate to be closed under Standing Order 38, which speaks to the closure of debates. The Speaker put the question to lawmakers, and the ‘ayes’ prevailed even as the parliamentary Opposition protested strongly against the decision.
Hylton is also urging Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness to respond to questions in Parliament on Jamaica’s abstention during the United Nations vote to lift the United States embargo against Cuba.
“The questions require the prime minister to explain the decision in his own words on the record. We expect full and candid answers,” Hylton said during a press conference called by the opposition People’s National Party on Tuesday.
Kept in the dark
He said the decision to abstain was made by the Cabinet, and Parliament was kept in the dark.
“Why censure the Government and not just the foreign minister? Because the administration itself has said whose decision it was.”
Hylton said on October 28, when Jamaica abstained at the UN, the minister of foreign affairs acknowledged that Cabinet had contemplated the change for some time.
“That makes it a Cabinet decision, and under Section 69(2) of the Constitution, it is a decision for which Cabinet answers to Parliament collectively.”
He argued that on October 27, the Government asked the House to pass a Cuba resolution, and the House did so, believing that Jamaica’s position was unchanged. However, he said the next day, Jamaica abstained during the UN vote.
He acknowledged that a government was entitled to change its foreign policy. However, Hylton said what the administration is not entitled to do is to ask Parliament to pass a resolution on a subject while keeping from Parliament the decision it has already contemplated on that very subject.
Hylton said the Opposition has reason to believe that the decision to abstain at the UN had already been communicated to Jamaica’s UN mission in New York before or during the debate in the House.
“That is not one minister’s lapse. It is a failure of the Cabinet’s collective duty of candour to the House.”
Hylton reasoned that if the Opposition knew that the Government had changed its policy in relation to the US embargo against Cuba, the motion debated in the Lower House would have been vigorously opposed.
He said an honest debate could have taken place before the Jamaican people and there would be no need for a censure motion.
PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell noted that Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has admitted that his country abstained from the vote following a warning from the US about the possible effect on ongoing negotiations regarding visas for nationals wanting to visit the North American country.
Campbell said when the Jamaican Government was asked if it was pressured into making a decision to abstain at the UN, it said no.
edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com
