Saint Lucia: Philip J Pierre, the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, announced the sitting of the House of Assembly on Tuesday, 19 March, for the pivotal decision and the process of the election for a new Deputy Speaker in his recent press appearance.

The position of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly was empty after the last speaker, Jeremiah Norbert, resigned from his post recently to join the cabinet of ministers with PM Philip J Pierre. He was given the responsibility of managing the ministries of crime prevention and people with disabilities.

Now as the seat of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly is empty and a new speaker is going to get elected for the role, the government is looking over the options to appoint an individual from outside of parliament.

Recently, the opposition raised concerns over the approach of the government to choose a candidate for the role of deputy speaker of the house and stated it as an unconstitutional move. They talked about the needed amendments in sections 30 and 36 in their allegations.

Anyhow, Ernest Hilaire, the deputy prime minister of Saint Lucia, tackled the claims and allegations of the opposition by schooling them about the law and constitution. Minister Ernest Hilaire, in his recent public appearance, answered the questions around the allegations and clarified the intentions of the government.

PM Philip J Pierre shared his words on the claims of opposition and said, “The Leader of the Opposition asked the Attorney General in a letter whether he could consider what is called an Attorney General’s reference where the Attorney General seeks from the High Court an opinion on something.”

The PM added, “We wrote him back and said yes we are going to be doing it and we asked him for his input. We have not yet received it. The next sitting is tomorrow, a Deputy Speaker will be elected tomorrow.”

Prime Minister Philip J Pierre said in his statement that his government always followed the constitution and would keep on doing it in the future. The government is currently also following the legal procedure against the accusation of the opposition.

PM Pierre mentioned, “You will note that the Parliament was in session for nearly six years without a Deputy Speaker. I can assure you that Parliament will be in session tomorrow, with a deputy speaker.” A similar point was quoted by the deputy minister in his statement.