Cou­va South MP Bar­ry Padarath is stand­ing by his com­ments re­gard­ing the con­duct of par­lia­men­tary staff and has dis­missed calls by the Op­po­si­tion for him to be in­ves­ti­gat­ed for the al­leged in­tim­i­da­tion of staff as a de­flec­tion at­tempt by the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment.

“I have no in­ten­tion of be­ing a scape­goat or de­flec­tion from the PNM’s de­ba­cle as it re­lates to Ka­reem Mar­celle’s vi­ral tirade and di­vi­sive com­ments. In­ci­den­tal­ly, what should re­al­ly war­rant an in­ves­ti­ga­tion is Mar­celle’s hate­ful speech, and whether or not this bor­ders, if it is not a mat­ter of sedi­tion,” said Padarath in re­sponse to ques­tions about the chaot­ic events which un­fold­ed on Fri­day night.

Padarath, dur­ing Fri­day evening’s sit­ting of the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee, ac­cused par­lia­men­tary staff of bias due to what he said was the con­stant mut­ing of his mi­cro­phone.