THOUGH some may call him a national hero, Personal Assistant to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ean McPherson, who protected the Parliamentary Mace during Wednesday’s altercation in the National Assembly said he is just a patriotic Guyanese doing his job and he would do it all over again if he had to.

McPherson said he was kicked, scratched, threatened, and verbally harassed with racial slurs by Opposition MPs when he tried to protect the Mace after Opposition MP, Annette Ferguson grabbed and attempted to remove it from the chambers, during the reading of the National Resource Fund Bill. Nonetheless he said he was just doing his job.

“I am not a hero, I am a patriotic Guyanese. I am a person who is being paid by the State so I was basically doing my job,” the 53-year-old said.

McPherson, who has military training and is a former member of both the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force, has been working at Parliament for the past year under Speaker Manzoor Nadir. He said his military experience kicked into gear when the situation unfolded.

“All I did was react after they acted. I didn’t grab the Mace first. I am the protector of the Mace; when they act then I react. While performing duties assisting the Speaker what happened I noticed Ms. Annette Ferguson grab the Mace and tried to remove it, so I tried to protect the Mace knowing the seriousness of the Mace, our national treasure. I held on to the Mace and I was flung to the floor,” he recounted.

McPherson spoke with the media on Thursday in the compound of the Ethnics Relations Commission (ERC) moments after he delivered a letter over racial slurs that were hurled at him by Opposition MP Maureen Philadelphia and others during the altercation.

In videos circulated on social media of Wednesday’s situation, McPherson can be seen in one video trying to retrieve the Mace from Ferguson, while in another video he is seen in the corridor of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) securing the Mace between his legs, as Philadelphia stands over him hurling racial epithets at him, when they could not get the Mace from him.

McPherson explained that he was actually dragged into the corridor.

KICKED IN THE RIBS
“I was kicked in my ribs, my foot would show you where fingernails (scratched me), because I was literally dragged down the corridors. They throw me on the ground, drag me take me outside and then Ms Philadelphia start to abuse me with a series of racial words like ‘house slave’ but the one that caught me was ‘house negro’, so I prepared a letter and dropped it upstairs and showed my concern about how I was treated,” he shared.

Though he identified Philadelphia and Ferguson, by name, as being among those who assaulted him, McPherson said that while he does not know his other perpetrators by name, he can identify them by face.

“I don’t know them by their names but I can identify them easily,” he said.

Notwithstanding what he has been through, McPherson said he would do it again in a heartbeat. On dropping off the letter to the ERC, McPherson said, notwithstanding there not being a commission in place, he wishes to see the situation investigated.

“I know there is no commission in place but they will do some investigation. That is why I gave a hard copy to ensure that it is there. What I want is for the world to know that it is time that we move away from racial slurs and calling people names,” he said

An integral part of the House’s business, the Parliamentary Mace is necessary to be in place before business can be conducted in the National Assembly.

According the information from Parliament, on entering and leaving the Parliament Chamber, the Speaker is preceded by the Sergeant-at-Arms bearing the Mace on his right shoulder. When the National Assembly is in session, the Mace is placed on the Clerk’s table, with its head pointing towards the government side of the chamber.

When the Assembly meets as a committee of the whole Assembly, the Mace is placed below the Clerk’s table. When the Mace lies upon the table, the House is in session, when under, it is a Committee.