By TYLER MCKENZIE

THE clock continues to tick for this administration when it comes to women’s rights – so much so that when the government last week announced that it had made sailing the national sport, a significant number of reactions on social media asked how the government could find time for that but still not have passed marital rape or gender violence laws.

Those particular laws have been brought into focus in the past week too because of two parliamentarians – one speaking up and showing how disconnected she is from the issue, and the other silent as allegations have been made to police about his actions.

Let’s start with Speaker Patricia Deveaux – who said she abhors rape, but can’t speak to the issue of marital rape because she isn’t married.

She said: “I’m not married. You understand? So, I really don’t think that I’d have a fair balance because, you know, when you’re married and you would have spent years with your husband, I don’t know how to balance the word rape in a relationship.

“So, I mean, I have my personal views that I keep to myself, but in terms of being married, I think it would be an unfair gesture for me to answer because I’m not married.”

“I’m against rape, yes, I am. With marriage, I’m not going to posture there because, like I said, I am not married and so I don’t know how to balance it against a marriage.

“Now, if it was a criminal act, it’s a whole different ballgame, but if it’s a man and a woman lying down in a bed, I don’t know how to say that I am totally against it.”

Pontius Pilate could not have washed his hands more thoroughly about an issue. Speaker Deveaux is against rape but can’t speak to the issue within a marriage? Unless she has personal experience of an issue, she can’t listen to the arguments, weigh the issues and decide accordingly? She is one of the leaders of our nation but cannot decide on matters which she does not experience directly? There are a million and one issues facing our country and she is unable to act on any of them unless it affects her personally? We are dealing with a crime epidemic, with more and more murders taking place – can she play a role in legislation on that without personal experience?

Last week saw the murder of two women from the same family – a horrible incident and exactly the kind of incident that shows the need for gender violence laws. Is the Speaker able to speak up on that?

There are more issues too – cannabis legislation is going out for consultation, can a parliamentarian have a view on that if they don’t smoke weed?

Of course our leaders can have views on all such issues – and if they don’t personally have views, then they had best remember that they are in Parliament to represent the voters who put them into office.

Sidestepping the issue on marital rape is an utter failure to live up to the responsibilities of being a leader of the nation.

Credit, then, to Water and Sewerage Corporation chairman Sylvanus Petty, who last week said that he would risk his political future to pass marital rape laws, saying: “Rape is rape whether you are married or not, and no means no.”

And so we come to the second issue – the MP who has been accused of severe abuse by an ex-girlfriend. A complaint has been made to the police – and the family last week said they were not going to let the issue go under the table.

Speaking on Wednesday, the alleged victim’s mother said: “The allegation is so serious, they supposed to be done up on it and they haven’t done nothing yet. We understand it was a holiday involved, but right now today is Wednesday, and nothing.”

The MP has not commented on the issue and, as I write this, no charges have been filed – so his identity remains unannounced as yet.

Asked by reporters to speak on the issue, the MP repeatedly said “no comment”.

The only MP to speak on the matter so far has been Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe, who said that he has been on leave and hasn’t had a briefing.

So we have an issue where a parliamentarian is facing a severe accusation and so far we cannot say who it is – and our leaders have not addressed how the matter will be dealt with.

How long can we expect such a situation to exist? Well, the family of the alleged victim are concerned at the pace of the investigation. Of course, an investigation should not proceed any differently simply because of the position of the suspect. Will that be the case here? We shall have to wait and see – but we have already seen numerous people express concerns in another case, when Transport and Housing Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis was accused of assaulting a police officer with her car in May of last year. It took until January of this year for Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander to say that case had been closed due to insufficient evidence – which seems a remarkably long time for a fairly simple case to be resolved.

As we wait to see what happens with this new case – and we should remember that a suspect in any case must be considered innocent until proven guilty – the parliamentarian may well face questions about legislation such as gender violence, a difficult position to be in while the subject of the allegations that are circling.

What we must hope for is what we should hope for in any case – a thorough but timely investigation.

In the greater scheme of things, however, dealing with the issues that affect women’s lives and health and rights ought to be given a greater priority. The suggested legislation has been in the works for far too long now for senior figures to be in a position where they are shrugging and saying they don’t really know about the issue by now.