The UP/DP/Illidge coalition, with the exception of President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell (UP), has solved nothing by staying away from Tuesday's Parliament meeting to discuss the lawfulness of UP member Jules James voting on a motion last November 17 about the dismissal of former Pelican Resort workers by the new owner Simpson Bay Resort (SBR) where James is also the General Manager. The fact of the matter is that what James did is wrong, a fact he himself had acknowledged beforehand when his double role was questioned and he said he would excuse himself from deliberations on any issue that might present a conflict of interest.
Obviously for political reasons and to stop a motion condemning his actions at the resort once UP fraction colleague Romain Laville had left the room to abstain, James went a step further in the end by voting on a motion that directly affected his interests, which is clearly prohibited in the Constitution under article 53. So flagrant was the violation that even Governor Eugene Holiday sent a letter to the legislature requesting clarity.
The reaction from Arrindell was basically that as it did not involve legislation, the governor had no role to play. She also pointed out that the Rules of Order don't provide for a revote when a parliamentarian votes on a motion that concerns him or her, which raises the question whether she herself as the meeting's chair could and/or should not have prevented this from happening in the first place.
Most notably NA leader William Marlin has been asking about the legality of the vote rejecting his fraction's motion since December 7 and yesterday's events are not likely to change that. Once a second meeting on this topic is called in the next four days with the same result, there will be a third one for which no quorum is required and that can take binding decisions.
So, all the elected representatives who failed to show on Tuesday actually have achieved is a stay of execution, although ultimately it's the majority that will determine any further steps. Still, the general public and coalition members in particular are going to hear all that the opposition has to say about this matter, sooner or later.
