Isaac says the Speaker’s Chair and Parliament are not the place for personal grievances to be aired

D. Gisele Isaac, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has frowned on statements made by Sir Gerald Watt, the current Speaker, who chided the editor of the Daily Observer in Parliament on Monday, April 17.

Watt used the Lower House sitting to complain about a personal issue and said he was going to “deal with” news editor Gemma Handy, whom he wrongfully accused of having refused to publish an article he had written without it being paid for.   

The Speaker said he had brought the matter to the House’s attention because he believed it to be relevant; but Isaac says she found his remarks about Handy to be in poor taste and the Parliament should not have been used to air his grievance .

Isaac also feels that Watt is making much ado about nothing, since his missive had been published in the Pointe Xpress and Sir Gerald  had spent some 15 minutes on State television responding to an article she had written in the same paper.

During her 10-year tenure in the Chair, the former Speaker notes, she never used the House to answer public criticism, nor to make complaints about anything not having to do with the Parliament’s business.

If Watt has difficulty with her opinions, Isaac says, he should use other forums to address these matters and not take his grievances to the House of Parliament.