Grenada: Opposition Senators not included in opening of parliament
Clerk to the Houses of Parliament Andrew Augustine has sent a written apology to Opposition Leader Dr Keith Mitchell and all other opposition Members of Parliament for excluding their names from the programme for the ceremonial opening of Parliament.
“The Office of the Houses of Parliament noted the error of omission of Members of the Opposition on the initial programme for the ceremonial opening of Parliament. This was rectified during the ceremony,” said a news release from the Clerk on Thursday.
“The Office of the Clerk has provided a written apology to the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition and, by extension, to all the Opposition members. The Office has further apologised to members of the Executive and all other Parliamentarians who may have been so affected by the error,” it added.
The corrected programme with the names of all 15 Members of Parliament was disseminated by the time the ceremony concluded. Still, by that time, most of the attendees had already left the Parliament building.
In an interview following the ceremony, Dr Mitchell, who previously served as Prime Minister, described the omission on the original programme as “sad” and “strange”.
“That is a very strange one. I mean, I do not understand it…. The document is there every year; I don’t understand how it could have been left out. It is unfortunate, but I will not cast any aspersion; it’s sad and not a good thing,” he said.
Following the June 23 general election, the incumbent New National Party – which had won the 2013 and 2018 elections with all 15 seats – got six seats while the National Democratic Congress won the other nine.
0 Comment