Opposition’s Water Supply Motion Fails To Proceed In Parliament

A motion on Trinidad and Tobago’s water crisis, tabled by Opposition MP for Arouca/Lopinot Marvin Gonzales, could not proceed after he failed to move the motion before his allotted time expired.

The Speaker of the House, Jagdeo Singh, said the time had been closely monitored, including a final warning just seconds before it ran out.

“The Standing Orders are clear, the mover of a motion has 45 minutes. Let me have recourse to the electronic record. At four and half minutes, the honourable Member inquired of me how much time he had and I said, you have four and half minutes. At 20 seconds before the expiration of the time, I said to the procedural clerk loud enough for the Member to hear, he has 20 seconds again.”