Ritika Pratap 
[Source: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji / Facebook]
Opposition Member of Parliament Jone Usamate has expressed concerns over a Cabinet minister’s actions during a recent parliamentary session, where the minister commented on a point of order before the Speaker had made his ruling.
Usamate says that on the previous day, MP Alvick Maharaj had raised a point of order in accordance with Standing Order 74, citing an alleged breach.
He stresses that the standard procedure requires members to raise their point of order, reference the applicable standing order, and only then address the issue.
According to Usamate, once a point of order is raised, the Speaker must issue a ruling before any further discussion takes place.
“Yesterday, for the first time ever, without the Speaker ruling on that standing order, we had a member of Parliament stand up in this particular case, the minister, a cabinet minister standing up and talking about that issue without giving the courtesy to the Speaker to address the issue. This is something that has never happened before.”
Usamate called the incident a serious breach of parliamentary procedure.
In response, the Speaker of Parliament Filimone Jitoko acknowledged that the events of the previous day were not in line with the Standing Orders, as the Speaker is required to make a ruling on all points of order before any comments are made.
