Parliament has been relegated to a “Banana Parliament” by members who use unparliamentary and unacceptable language.
This is the view of a very disappointed Mary Chapman, a former long-serving secretary-general to Parliament.
She said these antics need to be reined in as they degraded the decorum in the House.
Ms Chapman was referring to cross talk from the floors of Parliament yesterday where a Cabinet Minister called an Opposition MP a “murderer”.
The MP immediately replied and labelled the minister a “chor”.
Ms Chapman said such behaviour never used to happen during her days and would be nipped in the bud by the Speaker.
Mr Kumar then stood up and said, “Mr Speaker Sir, this is not the first time he has said it. I can also say to him that he ‘choro’ (stole) everything from his family. I can say that. If he wants to continue that, I can say that.”
Mr Charan then continued to deliver his statement.
Ms Chapman said things like this never used to happen during her days.
“If it had happened in my time, the Speaker would have immediately stepped in,” Ms Chapman said.
“I don’t know what they were doing.
“I don’t watch Parliament anymore because they have carried on like this for quite a while.
“It’s not like a Parliament anymore. It’s just like a Banana Parliament. People are calling each other murderers and liars. All these are unbecoming.
“Those are not parliamentary language. People are treating the Parliament as a place where they can joke across the aisle.
“So, where are we going?
“Parliament is a serious business. They are doing things for the whole of Fiji.
“In my days, if you call somebody a liar, you can get suspended for saying that. But now, it’s gone to the extent of a liar to murderer to ‘chor’ (meaning thief), what next?
“Somebody has to put their foot down unless you want this to be a real Banana Parliament.”
