Burchell: I Will Not Apologise To The House Speaker | TVJ News

Añadido: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]to a prime time news followup now.

[00:00:03]Member of parliament for South St. James, Nikishha Burchell, says she has no intention of apologizing to Speaker of the House Juliet Holes. This despite backlash after Burch likened Mrs. Holes's oversight of parliamentary proceedings to that of a controlling wife. Shamela Pollen reports.

[00:00:22]A day after three government parliamentarians condemned remarks made by the PNP MP for South St. James Nikisha Burchell as rude and inappropriate, Miss Burchell is hitting back. Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, Finance Minister Favl Williams, and State Minister in the Minister of National Security Juliet Cuthbird Flynn criticized Miss Burchell for what they described as disgraceful remarks directed at House Speaker Juliet Holdnesses. In an interview, Miss Burchel said Miss Holdness exhibited controlling tendencies similar to women who dominate their husbands. When I sought to share my experience working with the current speaker, it wasn't a personal attack.

[00:01:15]>> For that, Miss Burchel says she will not apologize to Mrs. Holes.

[00:01:20]>> I did not speak to the speaker and her marriage. I made two analogies in my interview and this was not in parliament. In my interview, I made two analogies. I said there's a distinct difference between maintaining order in parliament and controlling.

[00:01:38]You can control one can control in the way school marms control schoolards. One can control um how you control at home be it with your husband, your children, whomever.

[00:01:50]That was the extension of the analogy.

[00:01:53]However, control has no place in parliament where adults were elected by their constituents and sent to represent them as equals.

[00:02:03]>> She also responded to statements made by government MPs regarding the controversy. when I see the orchestra um arranged with three women from the government benches taking the time away from their busy hectic portfolios. We have the minister of finance. You hardly hear her. We have our foreign affairs person with all the turmoil we have going on in policy. And then there's Julia Cobert. I don't not sure what she does. But when you have these three women leaving their substantive portfolios to be used as pawns in a written script written mostly maybe um by um their male directors to come out and parrot something that they didn't even watch the full clip >> and Miss Burchel insists that she will not be silenced. Sheamela Pollen, TVJ News. All right.