By Val Matthias. Updated 10:48 a.m., Thursday, January 29, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Speaker of the House of assembly Ronia Durham Balcombe barred Opposition Leader Dr. Ralph Gonsalves from participating in the Finance Committee meeting on January 27, 2026.
The Speaker ruled that Gonsalves could not sit in the committee because he had not yet taken the oath of allegiance and made the formal declaration of qualification required of elected members under Standing Order 3(1). In her correspondence, she stated that no member may take part in proceedings until the oath has been administered. She added that Gonsalves could attend only if he sought permission from Prime Minister Godwin Friday, who chairs the committee, but would not be allowed to vote.
Dr. Gonsalves was appointed Leader of the Opposition by the Governor General on December 1, 2025. Though he is legally serving as Leader of the Opposition through constitutional appointment, he has not yet taken his Parliamentary oaths which will allow him to legally participate in the proceedings of the twelfth Parliament.
Dr. Gonsalves rejected the Speaker’s ruling, calling it “an erroneous, egregious, and high‑handed assault on democratic norms.”Speaking on Star FM, he said: “Directing the Leader of the Opposition to seek permission of the Prime Minister to attend the Finance Committee is an immature display of triumphalist partisan politicking that has absolutely no place or precedent in the history of an independent St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
The Opposition Leader explained that his absence from the first sitting of Parliament in December 2025 was not due to indifference, but to legitimate security concerns. He said he had written to then Governor‑General Dame Susan Duggan requesting additional security after a previous incident in which he was injured by a missile hurled from a crowd outside Parliament. “Without personal security, I’m likely to be a proverbial sitting duck for some crazed supporter or disturbed person whipped up by the triumphalism of a frenzied mob,” Gonsalves wrote in his December 15 letter. He argued that the government ignored the Governor‑General’s recommendation that security be provided, leaving him unprotected and forcing him to miss the opening session.
Gonsalves pointed to precedent, noting that in 2018 then Speaker allowed opposition members to participate in House business even though they had not yet made the required declaration under the Representation of the People Act. He argued that the Finance
Committee, as a standing committee of the whole House, could have administered the oath at the start of its proceedings. “Respectfully, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot claim that the Finance Committee is a proceeding of the House requiring an oath, but simultaneously not the House for the purpose of administering the oath, “he wrote in his letter to the Speaker.
The Finance Committee is a critical stage in the budget process, where estimates are reviewed before being laid in Parliament. The opposition traditionally uses the session to raise questions and point out errors in the estimates. Gonsalves said his exclusion meant he could not perform this role, though he pledged to highlight issues during the full budget debate.
END
