Gordon Robinson | How to glorify disorder

So Angela Brown-Burke decided to defend charges of misconduct and contempt for Parliament with obfuscation.

Lest we forget this all began when Angela, in an egregious act of parliamentary misconduct, lifted the mace from its setting and, then, assisted by colleague MPs, openly defied the Speaker’s valid ruling she be suspended.

That’s the ONLY current issue. 

On Tuesday May 5 Angela used the Sectoral Debate to confuse that issue. Among the arrant nonsense she uttered was: “This for me is fundamental. It’s about who we are and it’s about our identity.”

Rubbish! It’s about nothing of the sort. It’s about how we behave NOT who we are. She carried on obliviously:

“I say to my boys; I say to my nieces ‘when you’re in a relationship allow no one to strip you of your dignity’.”

Hopefully Angela’s boys and nieces weren’t watching as she decided to strip herself of her dignity by tippy-toeing towards the symbol of Parliamentary Authority and removing it from its setting. Also, hopefully, any relationships endangering her boys/nieces’ dignity are personal relationships not one governed by legislated rules in which event I expect Angela to encourage them to follow the rules.

To Opposition MPs’ thunderous desk banging, Angela continued: 

“I’m duty bound therefore to live what I preach and to be an example to those that I’ve been saying do not allow others to control you.” 

Really? Seriously? 

Angela, as MP you’re duty bound to live

1. your Oath of Allegiance: “I will uphold and defend the Constitution and laws of Jamaica”; 
2. Standing Order 4(1): “The Speaker….shall preside at sittings of the House…” 

As Angela should be aware, “preside” involves “control”. The Online Oxford English Dictionary defines “preside” as “to lead or be in charge of a meeting, ceremony, etc.” 

So, regardless of Angela’s preaching, her “boys and nieces”, should they become MPs, will have to allow themselves to be controlled by the Speaker. 

Angela claimed to be willing to bear the consequences of her choices but the only “consequence” she appeared to recognize was the need for co-operation “with anyone who is willing to treat me as a human being.”

DWL! Who isn’t?

For a long time she didn’t accept the suspension consequence. And even her announced co-operation “consequence” was conditioned on “I have never been a submissive female!”

WHAT?

Aside from her ghastly grammar (“female” is an adjective not a noun), it seems Angela is clueless about the origins of female submissiveness. Ephesians 5:22: “Wives, be submissive to your own husbands as unto the Lord.” This “submissive” thingy only applies in marriage and only governs public marital conduct where, biblically, wives are expected to allow their husbands, the size of whose egos is usually inversely proportional to other appendages, to lead. 

At home every marriage is a partnership.

What in the name of granny’s giznick cord does this have to do with Parliamentary (mis)conduct? Nobody asked any MP to be “a submissive female (sic)”. This is NOT a gender issue. 

The worst part of Angela’s rabid rant was when she sought refuge behind Portia’s name.

“I come here as the representative of the people of South-West St. Andrew. I come from the traditions of Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller”

Is that so? Let’s see. At Portia Simpson-Miller’s final Parliamentary attendance, she was warmly welcomed by both sides of the House. Edward Seaga, PJ Patterson and Cayman’s House Speaker attended.

At that sitting, PM Andrew Holness described her achievement as Jamaica’s first female PM as no ordinary feat: 

“You are no ordinary woman.

You have been the voice that has kept Governments focused on policies and programs that are beneficial to the poor. I’ve studied you in that regard….and I’m saying to you, on your retirement, you don’t have to worry. There’s a new defender of the poor people of Jamaica”

That night PM Holness hosted a reception in her honour at Vale Royal. 

But Portia didn’t start as PM. She didn’t enter parliamentary representation as the beneficiary of a garrison gift. She won a Division that had been dominated by JLP and then a constituency controlled by JLP through D.C. “Clem” Tavares (1959 to 1972) and Wilton Hill (1972-1976) when she flipped the seat in the infamous State of Emergency election. Through hard work, discipline and true love for the people she turned that Constituency into a PNP Garrison. 

In 2015, in her Heroes Day address she quoted Bustamante:

“National Hero Right Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante reminds us of the importance allowing peace to reign in our communities across Jamaica. He said. ‘Without discipline, we cannot succeed; and with disorder we will fail.’”

Angela Brown-Burke, who just glorified disorder, is no Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller. She’s behaving more like the winner of a lawsuit about a fake injury who celebrates by drinking sham-pain! 

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com