TWO former prominent Members of Parliament (MP) — Maxine Henry-Wilson of the People’s National Party (PNP) and Othneil Lawrence of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) — are appealing to politicians currently serving in the nation’s Parliament to “lower the temperature”, and bring civility back to the legislature.

The two have called for a reset in the Parliament, while highlighting the approaches taken by former prime ministers PJ Patterson and Bruce Golding who were able to maintain order during some of the most robust debates in the country’s recent history when they served in the Parliament.

Their appeal follows Tuesday night’s dust-up in the House of Representatives that saw two senior MPs having to be separated by their colleagues after they appeared to come close to exchanging blows. The two are Mikael Phillips, PNP MP for Manchester North Western, and JLP’s Desmond McKenzie, MP for Kingston Western, who’s also minister of local government and community development.

The incident followed the adjournment of the parliamentary sitting after a tense and disruptive debate on a motion centred on the Government’s decision to abstain from a recent United Nations vote on the punishing United States economic embargo on Cuba. The MP for St Andrew Western Anthony Hylton who moved the motion, even called for the Government to be censured.

Both Henry-Wilson and Lawrence credited the prime ministers under who they served for keeping things in line when they threatened to go off the rails. Henry-Wilson served two terms as MP for St Andrew South Eastern during the Patterson era, while Lawrence served one-term under Golding from 2007-2011.

“One of the things that Patterson did was to try and bring down the tempo and the animosity between the two sides because there was a period when the animosity was really high, Henry-Wilson recalled.

“One of the things he did was to have social events where they [PNP and JLP members] interacted with each other. And, also downstairs, in the dining room, we actually ran jokes and we knew who and who were friends and so on,” she shared. The former minister of education and information minister, who was also the first female general secretary of a major political party in Jamaica, said the level of hostility and polarisation was abated by the deliberate social interactions.

“I’m not clear how that goes now, I’m not sure if we are at a stage where, because of a person’s political persuasion, they can’t be civil towards other people,” she said, while pointing out that, “We have to work in the best interest of the nation”.

“It’s a question of respect also, and a question of understanding that politics is about bargaining and compromise and negotiation and nobody ever gets everything they want,“ Henry-Wilson added. “It seems like some of that has gone and issues have become intensely personal. Why would you in Parliament talk about anybody’s mother? They’re not a part of the debate, the discussion or the cut-and-thrust. We can’t stoop to that level,” she remarked.

“We must understand what the parliamentary debate is about; it’s not about personal attacks. As Norman Manley said, “elevate the thing, take it up off the ground,” she added.

Henry-Wilson said it appeared MPs are not taking the time to learn about parliamentary rules.

“Some of the things that I hear people talking about, they contravene the parliamentary standing orders but whether you like the standing orders or not the fact of the matter is that it is there and you have to observe it”.

She opined that the breakdown in the Parliament also has to do with the exercise of leadership of the House of Representatives. She recommended that the Leader of Government Business in the House, Floyd Green, sit with the Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell and “come up with some kind of ground rules about how you interact with each other. I think it is important”.

For his part, Lawrence said he is “very disappointed seeing what has been taking place — not only yesterday [Tuesday] but previously”.

LAWRENCE… I cannot understand how they almost got physical. I’m saying, lower the temperature because the world is watching us

Although two senior multiple-term MPs were at the heart of Tuesday’s altercation, Lawrence seemed to point the finger of blame for disruptions in recent parliaments squarely at the feet of younger, inexperienced politicians. “I don’t know if proper training needs to apply,” he said.

A former minister of state, Lawrence said when he was elected, training sessions were organised for the incoming class of parliamentarians. “It guided us as to how we should conduct ourselves,” he said. “I served on about eight different committees including the Ethics Committee and that has guided me well,” he added.

“I’m wondering if we [serving politicians] are not cognisant of the fact that from the moment you walk through those doors [of the Parliament] each day, we must remember that the country is looking at us.“

He recalled experiencing robust debates involving members of both sides “and at the end of the day persons who just had a heated debate were seen sitting together having lunch”.

He told of a particularly heated exchange between the late Roger Clarke of the PNP and Robert Montague who serves in the current JLP cabinet. “It was really heated but I can tell you that at the end of the day, five minutes after that, Roger was downstairs giving joke”.

Like Henry-Wilson, Lawrence believes the leadership of the Parliament needs to take charge.

“I don’t know if they need to be a bit more firm but at the end of the day, they must understand that while we want to rule, we still must respect each other regardless of which side we sit on”.

He went further to suggest that politicians may be influenced by the crassness that is played out daily on social media. And going back to the younger parliamentarians, Lawrence opined that youthful exuberance was taking over.

“Because if you go back to the persons who are behaving a certain way, the younger ones are showing disrespect to the seniors and it’s a concern that’s creeping into the Parliament.“

He worried that with increasing conflicts in schools, with some turning physical with deadly consequences, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell young people how to conduct themselves properly “when we’re not setting any example”.

“After [Tuesday’s] behaviour, how do we speak to students about proper behaviour? It cannot continue, we have to set a better example”.

Having sat through some of the most contentious debates, including during the global recession of 2008-2009 and the Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition saga which ultimately ended Prime Minister Golding’s political career, Lawrence said he never saw the disrespect like what is being played out today.

“We debated robustly, we didn’t always see eye to eye but there was mutual respect. When I watched yesterday I cannot understand how they almost got physical. I’m saying, lower the temperature because the world is watching us”.