MPs flee Parliament meeting to frustrate motion of no confidence

PHILIPSBURG — MPs Rolando Brison (UP) and Hyacinth Richardson (NA) fled a meeting of Parliament on Wednesday to prevent the handling of a motion of no confidence against Minister Egbert Doran (Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure – VROMI).

The meeting was called to discuss the advice of the Council of Advice on article 50, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the constitution, but MP Raeyhon Peterson (PFP) asked to add another point to the agenda: Parliament’s confidence in the Minister of VROMI.

The constitutional articles 50.2 and 50.3 deal with rules for the suspension of parliamentarians and their replacement. According to remarks made by MP Brison the discussion about this topic was apparently “to find a solution” for the situation of suspended MP Claudius Buncamper. But the nine MPs who were present in the meeting never got to handling this agenda point.

MP Brison reacted irritated to MP Peterson’s request to add the confidence-issue to the agenda. “It is so cute when political parties claim to be beyond political games and the first thing we see is a political game,” he said. “We came here to debate a topic for a colleague member of parliament to find a solution to his situation. You called an urgent meeting in the middle of recess knowing full well that a number of MPs s off island. And then this shenanigan is played. I am not entertaining this nonsense any further. We came here to debate the constitution but now we know the real reason why this meeting was called.  I just want to leave you with this: article 61 of the constitution.

The article Brison referred to reads: “Parliament is only allowed to debate and to take decisions if more than half of the sitting members are present in the meeting.

Brison asked for a roll call before theatrically walking out of the meeting, together with National Alliance MP Hyacinth Richardson. With the absence of the two MPs, the meeting was left without a quorum and the chair of parliament, MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten had no other option than to adjourn the meeting until further notice.

Read more: PFP: Walkouts Becoming the Norm to Keep Accountability in the Dark

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