The Standing Orders of the House of Assembly gives the Speaker of the House the authority to accept or decline a Notice of Absence.
This was confirmed by the former Speaker of the House of Assembly Ms. Ingrid Moses-Scatliffe in an exclusive interview with 284News.
The relevance of the question posed to the former Speaker stems from a recent statement made by former Deputy Premier Dr. Kedrick Pickering, who publicly stated during a recent meeting on Virgin Gorda that a Speaker had no such authority to revoke a Notice of Absence from an elected House of Assembly member.
He was referring to the Speaker of the House of Assembly Corine George-Massicote, who rejected former Premier Andrew Fahie’s Notice of Absence for all future sittings in July 2022.
Contrary to this public statement, Ms. Moses- Scatliffe pointed to Section 84(2) of the House of Assembly Standing Orders, which she said gives any Speaker of the House the authority to use their discretion to accept or reject notices of absence.
Ms. Moses-Scatliffe who is also an attorney at law spoke on the respective legal avenues which would result in a House of Assembly member having to vacate his or her seat.
She said Section 67(3) of the BVI’s Constitution and the House of Assembly’s Standing Orders are at least two of critical documents that address the subject matter.
Moses-Scatliffe also spoke specifically on the legislation that addresses former premier Fahie’s present circumstance, which will likely result in him having to vacate his First District seat at the end of the next House of Assembly Sitting.