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At the top of the news, we showed you how UDP Ministers Edmond Castro and Anthony “Bootsâ€￾ Martinez were rude and hostile with the Senators when they were finally obliged to take questions on allegations of that have surfaced against them in the Senate Hearings.

Now, in the past, witnesses have become confrontational, but there has always been a level of respect between the Senators and those who are called to testify.

As you saw, today was a big departure from the normal decorum of these hearings, and after they concluded, we asked Senator Elena Smith about it. She had to fill in as pro-tem chairman because Senator Aldo Salazar was unable to make it today. We asked her about the way the hearings were sort of dragged into the mud, and here’s what she had to say:

Hon. Elena Smith - Labour/Civil Society Senator
“Obvious that the ministers who appeared before us today were not particularly keen on being with us today and so that was evident in their actions towards the senators; I don’t think, I hope you’re not suggesting that because of a new chair today that is the reason why they reacted the way they did. I think that in particular of the two ministers who came before us today they had issues with the testimony of Ms. Burgess and so we knew that they would have had some negative reaction. However we did not expect that as ministers that they would come here and be disrespectful.â€￾

Daniel Ortiz
“Now is it a concern for you that if they are other ministers called and that they are in the hot seat being questioned for whatever is revealed in the reports or in the hearings themselves, that they will become confrontational with the persons asking questions?â€￾

Hon. Elena Smith
“I don’t see a need for that to happen. The questions that are being asked are in no way personal, we are not attacking any minister personally; we are just going by what it is that we need to do as senators in this inquiry. I understand that some ministers are unable to keep their cool as best as some others would do and so we would expect that some ministers would become aggravated easier than others. That does not mean though that it gives them the right to act the way these ministers behaved today.â€￾

Daniel Ortiz
“Is there any way that the Senators or you specifically the chair whoever is Aldo comes back, that they can control the witnesses to keep them in line to make sure that respect is across the floor?â€￾

Hon. Elena Smith
“Well it depends on who you ask because some person will say that the questions that are asked is what determines the way the respondents react and so if I’m asking you a question that you are uncomfortable with, then you are going to react in a certain manner but if I ask you a question that really and truly doesn’t bother you then it would not affect the way you respond to me. I believe that we have tried our best, we have done our best, Senator Salazar has done his best and I think I did my best today to ensure that we did not get personal with each other; unfortunately one minister decided to do so, he just chose to display his arrogance.â€￾