Notably, Freedom in this instance is believed to have been in reference to Freedom FM.
“To my surprise, Hon. Liburd then proceeded to elbow me away from the seats. I pushed his hand off of me. He then did it again and I pushed off his hand again. I then proceeded to the Commissioner of Police, who was present, to issue a complaint of the incident. I was then directed to Inspector Greaux who documented my complaint. He asked whether I wished to take the matter to the Court or have the police warn Hon. Liburd. I chose for the police to warn Hon. Liburd,” Maynard said further.
He disclosed that “One of the organisers and one of the government members came by to plead with the Hon. Patches that indeed that is how the protocol is arranged and that he should excuse himself such that an Opposition (member) can be represented at the head centre table for the proceedings. Shortly after digesting that, he then rose and stamped out of the proceeding, never coming back , at least for the opening because I would assume he felt whatever feelings he may have had and he really had no interest in being there if he could leave on that basis.”
Maynard talked about an incident that took place in Parliament last week.
He said Liburd’s verbal antics towards him as being “very concerning” whilst adding that at another time he can go into those details.
The nation’s young parliamentarian has advised Liburd, who is a first time elected Parliamentarian like him, on the importance of exhibiting good behviour.
“As members of Parliament, we should always aim to be role models for all people of our nation and in particular our youth. It is totally unacceptable for anyone and especially a member of Parliament to commit battery against anyone including another member of Parliament. To whom much is given, much is expected.”
Maynard also used the opportunity to touch on peaceful conflict resolution and encouraged individuals to always consider such an option.
“There are other ways to resolve conflict. There are other ways that you can do that and it is very important that when you have a situation before you that you remain as calm as you can and you think for a moment what is the best thing in this case as the police informed me, it was the best thing for me to record this incident to document it and make the complaint because if anything else were to happen, I would have already indicated to the police that I have a concern with this particular individual.”
PHOTOS:
“Consequently, because of this pattern of behavior which I have observed coming from the minister, I chose to make the complaint because I am growing concerned about his words and actions not only to me recently but what he has a reputation of.”- Opposition Parliamentarian Konris Maynard
Government Minister Ian ‘Patches’