Urgent Debates Declined — Public Statements Regarding Former Deputy Commissioner of Police

Members, I’ve received a letter from Mariameno Kapa-Kingi seeking to debate under Standing Order 399 public statements by the former Commissioner of Police and both the former and current Ministers of Police regarding former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. Urgent debates are a way of holding the current Government accountable for an action for which it is responsible, so an urgent debate cannot be held on matters for which a previous Government had some responsibility. Urgent debates are not a means through which to discover what a Minister knew or why they said something; that is the role of parliamentary questions. The application is declined.