Audio: Parliamentary Questions On Party At Blu
During Friday’s session in Parliament a series of questions were asked about the exemption granted for the party at Blu, with a number of queries posed during the 30-minute exchange.
The party at Blu, in which people did not adhere to the Covid-19 regulations, resulted in the resignations of Zane DeSilva and Wayne Caines from Cabinet and the Blu Bar receiving a 14-day closure order.
The large group exemption order for the event was signed by Wayne Caines, the then Minister of National Security, who resigned following the party, which he attended himself, so the questions were answered by the newly sworn in Minister of National Security Renee Ming.
OBA Leader Craig Cannonier asked two Parliamentary Questions; “Will the Honourable Minister please inform this Honourable House who was the party responsible for applying for a large group exemption from prohibition in regulation 5[1] and [2] of the Public Health [COVID-19 Emergency Powers] Regulations 2020; for a charity dinner for Meals on Wheels?
The second question said, “Will the Honourable Minister/Premier please inform this Honourable House what was the reason given for requesting a large group exemption?”
The question and answer session lasted just over 30 minutes, with multiple MPs asking follow up questions.
32-minute audio extract from Parliament of the Q&A about the exemption for the party at Blu:
Following the exchange, Mr Cannonier said, “Why did the Government fail to allow the Health Minister to answer questions in Parliament concerning whether she objected to a licence for the party at Blu? Doing so raises serious questions about what is the Government trying to hide?
“The rules of the House say that if a Minister cannot answer a question, they can refer the question to the relevant Minister. Time and again, the new Minister of National Security refused to do this. Why? Why not allow Ms Wilson to clarify her position?
“If she did not object, why not just say so? It’s seems quite clear that Ms Wilson must have objected. If that is the case, why was the event allowed to take place?
“We, and the public, are not being told everything about this event,” Mr Cannonier added.
astonishing exchange – what was the speaker doing?!
No wonder nothing gets done in government. I’m 8 minutes in and all they have covered is when the application was received and when it was approved. How do you stretch 20 seconds into 8 minutes?
Painful to listen to.
MOW got there donations yet? Havent seen the presentation
They turned it down
Really interesting.. hence the party was a fund raiser for them…
After listening to the audio of the House of Assembly Nursery School Zoom meeting, I have come to the conclusion that the Minister of Health did not approve of the exemption given to Blu restaurant for the dinner party held for 130 guests which was a total embarrassment to all parties involved and resulted in the resignation of two ministers and the restaurant being closed for 14 days.
Amateur hour. Bercow is needed.
There are a few things I think would have been good if the OBA pushed on:
1) Minister Ming: “I *would* not know that because it would have been a conversation between a previous minister and the minister of health” (https://youtu.be/QK5r90udgiQ?t=1280)
Does the fact that you wouldn’t know mean you actually don’t know? I think there is a difference there that should have been prodded.
2) It would also have been good to see the opposition push hard on whether there was *any* written correspondence between the ministry of health and the minister of national security related to the matter.
3) How many applications for exceptional events have been received by the government? How many have been approved? How long do approve/deny decisions typically take to be made?
Most of the questions about Blu and MOW were a waste of time.
If you have ever viewed a saxophonist you will recall at the end of the performance that they remove the Reed and flick the spiral off it.
This was trackless and absolutely opposite of exeplery behaviour to constituency.