The Gov­ern­ment yes­ter­day moved a mo­tion in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives seek­ing to com­pel the Op­po­si­tion Leader to re­voke the ap­point­ments of Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tors Janelle John-Bates and Faris Al-Rawi, trig­ger­ing heat­ed ex­changes.

Pi­lot­ing the mo­tion, Min­is­ter of Land and Le­gal Af­fairs Sad­dam Ho­sein de­scribed the con­duct in ques­tion as “un­law­ful and con­temp­tu­ous,” and ac­cused Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les of fail­ing to act de­ci­sive­ly.

He re­ferred to her as a “cow­ard,” sug­gest­ing she had left the cham­ber be­cause she was “afraid” to dis­miss Al-Rawi.