Premier defends intention to appoint Dawson as Deputy Speaker
Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley has defended his impending motion to appoint First District Representative Dr. Karl Dawson as Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly (HOA), replacing Opposition member Stacy “Buddha” Mather.
The announcement follows Dr. Wheatley’s decision to reinstate Territorial At-Large Representative Lorna Smith into his administration, this time as Minister of State for Financial Services and Economic Development. As a result, Dawson will no longer serve as Junior Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries but will continue assisting the Premier in a non-ministerial role.
Speaking on TOLA Radio on Wednesday, March 12, Dr. Wheatley emphasised the need for the Deputy Speaker to align with the government.
“Traditionally, the Deputy Speaker would be on the government’s side—it is very unusual for them to be on the Opposition’s side,” he stated.
He also noted that the Deputy Speaker holds significant power, particularly in breaking a tie between the government and Opposition during votes.
“It’s not a comfortable situation to have a Deputy Speaker in the Opposition,” Dr. Wheatley added. “Getting an extra member, now that we have eight, allows us to have a Deputy Speaker on our side, and I’m grateful that Dawson has recognized the need for this and made the sacrifice.”
Our news center has reached out to Opposition Member Mather for comment but has not received a response as of publication.
Dr. Wheatley’s surprise announcement on Tuesday, March 11, also addressed his decision to reinstate Smith, citing global economic concerns affecting the Caribbean. He revealed that he is seeking retroactive approval from the United Kingdom for her appointment.
This move comes months after he removed Smith as Deputy Premier and Minister of Financial Services, Labour, and Trade, replacing her with Julian Fraser. At the time, he expressed concerns over her loyalty ahead of a potential vote of no confidence from the Opposition.
During his radio interview Wednesday, Dr. Wheatley admitted he may have acted too hastily in removing Smith. While she now holds a junior ministerial role, he indicated plans to amend the Constitution to formally recognise her Minister of State position, as no such provision currently exists.
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Am surprised that Lorna is prepared to be a junior minister!!!
She is Jr. Minister in name only. She continue to run the show and the title comes with leverage and power equal to that of regular Ministers/
What you are saying is wrong constitutionally. You could only have one minister of a subject at a time. As a junior minister to the Premier the subjects are his not hers. However in the practice of this arrangement she will have lots of power because the Premier is lazy and doesn’t want to do any work. He is just comfortable being called Premier.
Slowande shows his hand. He never wanted bipartisanship. Now that he has 8 he said eff Mather. Now he can just do what he wants. The Deputy Speaker can break ties but how the ell will you have a tie when it is 8-5? So Dawson is now just a waste of a seat!
The way how the opposition got the speaker they wanted and the Deputy speaker was very unethical.
One of the Government ministers refused to support the Government’s choice for that job. What is happening now is only being morally corrected.
We have seen one of the opposition members ask questions in the house and, when he gets answers, belittle the Premier with his smirk comments before he asks another question.
The speaker just sits there, waiting for the whole thing to boil over into a house confrontation. She has done a poor job of keeping respect and order in the house.
For the ones who do not know, the Premier allowed Mather to take deputy speaker role, against his will, because he was advised that in the event Mather had to act and a government minister or 2 were absent, the opposition still could NOT take the majority vote (7-6 with Mather acting would make it 7-5). If he did not appoint Mather but appointed one of his own instead, the opposition could have the majority if one government minister was absent (7-6with government minister acting is 6-6 then with one more government minister absent would be 5-6 for votes). Now that the government has an 8-5 lead, he can revert to his original desire to place one of his own as deputy speaker. That would mean 7-5 for votes and even if 2 government members were absent, it would be a 5-5 stalemate if anything.
Do the maths. This was never about him trying to work with the opposition before to give them a win in the beginning but I laughed when the Premier was shaking up the hands of the other side. He had done his maths and they thought he was giving them a win at the first sitting at the sports complex. Sly sly politics lol.
Exactly; it was never about him trying to work with the opposition. How one runs the private so one leans to the public.
So we are replacing on of the best people in the HOA as Deputy Speaker with Dawson!!
W* was the biggest embarrassment as a speaker of the HOA. All the musical chairs Slowandy playing is for only a time. Come next election he may get the hard slap he deserved by the voters. VIP remix is paddling water to keep their power trips going.
Today for you, tomorrow for me. More time for shakeups!
At the end of the day, it boils down to numbers. And Sowande has the numbers.
MASTER WEATIE IS A PL**ER , AND YOU HAVE BROKEN IT DOWN SMOOTHLY, , SOME HAVEN’T GOTTEN THE MESSAGE YET , HOPEFULLY HE WON’T OUTSMART HIMSELF LIKE THE NOTORIOUS DUDE IN MIAMI DID
YOU O (CINDY ) YOU ON ( LORNA ) NOW YOH GORNE OFF ON THE SPEAKER , FACE IT BRO YOU WAS NEVER A REAL SPEAKER , JUST A WANNABE , YOU ARE JUST ENVIOUS / WE WERE SO RELIEVED WHEN MASTER WEATIE DID A TRUMP ON YOU -( YOU ARE FIRED ) SO PLEASE BE QUIET & STAY ON YOUR RACIST YELLO SITE, WHERE YOU CAN FLEX OFF YOUR DUPLICITOUS
MENTALITY , WHICH IS NOW SOUNDING LIKE A BROKEN RECORD , LIKE DIFFERENT DAY ,SAME SH*T / OR ~ ANOTHER EPISODE OF ” HOO & WAH
NEX “