By Peter Green
A careless Microsoft Word document just exposed the entire illusion of parliamentary oversight.
Once a committee meeting suddenly shuts down and leaked document edits hit the public, you can’t just call it a misunderstanding. This isn’t some minor political embarrassment. It is a system completely failing to police itself.
That is exactly why the Janelle John-Bates controversy matters.
Sunshine Today first reported that the whole thing unravelled because of edits left visible in a Word document submitted by former Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh . Those tracked changes were attributed directly to PNM Senators Janelle John-Bates and Faris Al-Rawi. They even left a cautionary note asking if certain information should be included at all. It is a stunning kind of arrogance… just hitting save and send without even bothering to scrub the document history.
Replacing John-Bates on the PAAC doesn’t fix this. When an institution takes a step like that, it is a quiet admission that the mess is simply too exposed to laugh off or bury under official PR. You can’t have a committee member helping a witness draft their statement, then sit across from them at a hearing and pretend to ask tough questions.
A committee member cannot be seen helping a witness prepare a statement and then turn around to question that same witness as though nothing happened. That is not oversight. That is like a judge helping a man write his defence in chambers, then walking back into court to act surprised by the argument.
That is why advice is swirling around in the public space that contempt charges are being considered against loquacious Deyalsingh who, in the past week, has been uncharacteristically quiet. For a little over ten years Deyalsingh has been strutting in the corridors of Parliament speaking on anything at anytime and suddenly now he has lost his voice and is not even speaking to the media.
It is being sad that Deyalsingh can be charged for contempt of Parliament for suborning a member of a Parliamentary Committee to breach her public duty To suborn is to induce or secretly persuade someone to committ an illegal act.
It involves corruptly influencing a person to act dishonestly in a legal proceeding. And all eyes will be on the Attorney General, John Jeremie, himself a Senator, to see how his government proceeds on this matter.
This is exactly how absurd this situation looks.
