News
The Red House, Port of Spain. – File photo by Jeff K Mayers
THE House of Representatives and the Senate will hold their final sittings for the current parliamentary term at the Red House, Port of Spain on September 9.
The Senate will sit from 10 am. The House sits from 1.30 pm.
At a post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) at Whitehall on August 28, the Prime Minister announced the House would sit on that day to save certain items on the legislative agenda which would be raised again in the new parliamentary term, which starts on September 13.
Newsday was told the opening of the new parliamentary term will not be a ceremonial one. The feature of such an event is an address by the President to a joint sitting of members of the House and Senate.
On August 28, Dr Rowley identified the Miscellaneous Provisions (Global Forum) Bill 2024, which addresses tax transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes across countries with the aim of ending bank secrecy and tax evasion, as one of the bills government intends to save and debate in the new term.
He also identified legislation on greater internal self-governance for Tobago and campaign finance as two other items government intends to deal with as it enters its final year in office.
Rowley is currently in the US for routine medical checks. Energy Minister Stuart Young has been acting as prime minister in his absence.
It is uncertain whether Rowley will be present at the House’s sitting on September 9 or for the opening of the new parliamentary term on September 13.
The House order paper for September 9 shows government has a total of 68 papers to be laid. The majority are in the name of Finance Minister Colm Imbert.
The opposition has filed four questions to the government for oral answer. Two of these are by Oropouche East MP and UNC deputy political leader Dr Roodal Moonilal. Mayaro MP Rushton Paray and Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Dr Rai Ragbir have one question each.
On September 1, Paray, Ragbir and fellow UNC MPs Anita Haynes-Alleyne, Dinesh Rambally and Rodney Charles were not invited to a general election preparation meeting led by UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the party’s headquarters in Chaguanas.
They had previously challenged the ability of the UNC to win the next general election with Persad-Bissessar at the helm.
There is no motion or bill listed for the House to debate.
On the Senate order paper, there are 33 papers to be laid by the government.
The opposition has filed three questions for government to answer.
Independent Senator Dr Paul Richards has one.
The order paper says the Senate is expected to resume debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Judicial and Legal Service) Bill, 2024.
The bill was passed in the House on July 3 by a vote of 20-17.
Debate on the bill began in the Senate on July 4. The Senate last debated the bill on July 5.
Some of the issues the bill deals with include expanding the definition of a chief legal officer to include the Registrar-General and amending the Children Act by “introducing flexibility in who can perform the functions of a children’s attorney or a senior children’s attorney, notwithstanding an appointment by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission.”
