House Speaker Lawrence Joseph has sought to clear the air on a controversial ruling he made last Thursday in which he allowed Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to speak once again on the 2004 Budget although he had already made his contribution a few days earlier.

The decision of the Speaker did not go down well with the opposition members who walked out of Parliament led by their leader Tillman Thomas.

All seven opposition Members of Parliament belong to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which is returning to the House of Representatives for the first time since 1999.

The opposition MP's contended that since Finance Minister Anthony Boatswain presented the Budget, then it is only he based on the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives to conclude the proceedings.

However, Speaker Joseph rebuked the elected members of the opposition citing NO 40 Section (1)v of the Standing Orders, telling them to take their seats and referring to them as "new" for their decision to challenge his ruling.

According to that particular section, "The Minister finally concluding the debate, whether the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance or any other Minister designated by the Prime Minister, may speak for one and a half hours in addition to his earlier speech on the budget if he has already spoken".

Joseph, a former Senator in the ruling New National Party (NNP) administration of Dr. Mitchell, said that a rational interpretation of the section indicates that the person who has the authority to designate any other person to conclude the debate is the Prime Minister.

He told the sitting that the question that arises is whether the Prime Minister designated Boatswain to conclude the debate.
Joseph noted that if the member for St. Patrick's West was not designated to conclude the debate, his approach in making his contribution towards the budget debate, gave the perception that he was indeed concluding the debate.

"My investigation into what happened in the past reveals that over the years, it was the convention to allow the member, who was also the Minister of Finance, who originally presented the Budget, to come back and have the opportunity especially to speak about his constituency", he remarked.

The House Speaker said that what had actually happened was that the member over time was permitted to speak on other matters as well, yet this situation did not prevent the Prime Minister from concluding the debate. "The Standing Orders do not give a clear picture on this situation. This needs to be addressed by the Standing Orders Committee of the House", he added.

Joseph pointed to another unclear situation which arose during the debate and needs to be addressed by the Committee. It relates to whether or not the Leader of the Opposition or his designate should be entitled to read their response to the budget.