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UDP Minister Discuss The Ugly Ejection
posted (August 30, 2016)
While we were in Belmopan, we waited for the Cabinet Ministers to exit today's meeting to discuss the topic on everybody's mind, the ugly ejection of PUP Cayo South Representative Julius Espat.

Not many of those Ministers were in the mood to grant a press encounter, but Michael Finnegan, Elodio Aragon, and Wilfred Elrington did stop to give us an interview. Finnegan told us that in his opinion as a senior parliamentarian, it shouldn't have gotten to that point:

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
"It was unfortunate, disrespectful and disgraceful. That's all I have to say."

Reporter
"At one point you even got up to speak on behalf of Mr. Espat and also cross the floor to speak with them. What was your perspective at that specific point in time?"

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
"I didn't talk on behalf of Mr. Espat. That is a wrong interpretation. I got up and was concerned about civility in the house and I believe that a member must be allowed to make his/her point. But a member must act within the framework and the guidelines of the law. You cannot get up and say the speaker is mercenary, the speaker is being paid to stop you from making your presentation, that members of the other side of the house are thieves. Man that is uncalled for. That was totally uncalled for. But the member, I will repeat again, have all right to make his/her presentation within the guidelines."

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Area Rep., OW East
"It was a real surprise to me. It was a real shocker, because definitely I did not expect a representative of the people and someone who sits in the House of Representatives will behave and comport himself like that. I think that we as representatives have to understand that whilst we are in the house there are certain rules and regulations and we must abide by them. It's just like when you are in school, the teacher is the person in charge of that school and you might not be happy with a decision that has been made, but you have to abide by the rules and regulations. But it's how you comport yourself. He should have remove himself from the house so the house meeting could carry on. Because there were issues that needed to be dealt with."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"I thought it was compounded by the fact that all his colleagues left the house where they are being paid to represent the nation and to engage in debate and went outside with him. They should have stayed and debated, because they get paid every month to do that and the house only has sessions perhaps 4-5 times a year. So that you don't give us a golden opportunity like that."

Reporter
"With the way that the media was treated on Friday, seeing as though we weren't formally ask to be remove from the galleries, what is your opinion of what transpired with the way the police handled the media?"

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
"That again was unfortunate. It was unfortunate on Channel 7's part and it was unfortunate on the police part. Channel 7 didn't have to behave in that fashion either. The police didn't have to behave in that fashion either. That's unfortunate. And the police didn't act on its own behalf. The police act as representative of the speaker. They were following the instructions of the speaker, whether you like it or I don't like it. They have got to obey the instructions given to them by the speaker."

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