Category Archives: Parliament

DPP Roger Gaspard Breaks Silence

By Richard Charan
Sep 12, 2012 at 1:12

Director of Public Prosecutions Roger GaspardDirector of Public Prosecutions senior counsel Roger Gaspard today issued a statement on the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011, and its impact on the two legal proceedings involving defendants charged in the Piarco Airport Terminal project.
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ISH, STEVE ‘CUT DOWN’

By Andre Bagoo
September 13, 2012 – newsday.co.tt

Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve FergusonPRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar issued directions to Attorney General Anand Ramlogan to table last-minute amendments to bolster legislation designed to shield the State from the legal fallout of its decision to abruptly repeal Section 34 of the Administration of Justice Act, it was revealed yesterday.
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Tobago’s Self-Governance and Legal Separation from T’dad

By Stephen Kangal
July 21, 2012

Stephen KangalIf Tobago were to be accorded full and effective internal self-governance in the current climate, it is mandatory that boundaries separating the domestic jurisdiction of both islands have to be established to demarcate the maritime limits of the reach of their respective law –creating capacity to avoid over-lapping or concurrent jurisdiction and reduce potential conflict.
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Politics and Promotions in the Cabinet Re-Shuffle

By Stephen Kangal
June 27, 2012

Stephen KangalThe Cabinet reshuffle, dubbed the new “pan- Cabinet”, would appear to be engineered, driven and tuned exclusively by the politics of consolidation, internal cohesiveness and ministerial promotion/demotion rather than enhancing performance in the post-MSJ era. It is a case of creating some over-lapping and ill-defined courses for horses while earning a six-month respite from the rising tide of adverse media reviews and infrastructural and labour discontent.
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A sideshow? Nothing more?

By Winford James
March 07, 2012

ParliamentIn the end, as in the beginning, Keith Rowley’s motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister was a sideshow. It failed as it was bound to. It unified the executive and brought out their full armoury. It unified the Opposition and brought out some kind of offence. It won Dr Rowley a small political advantage and probably much more embarrassment. It gave the executive a golden opportunity to keep in the public consciousness the PNM’s “corruption, waste and inefficiency”. It unleashed, one more time, the executive’s politics of excess.
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A Chink in the Armor

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 01, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhatever else Keith Rowley may not be doing, he has certainly put the fear of God, or is it Lord Rama, into the hearts of the members of the UNC-led Government. Surujrattan Rambachan, the Foreign Minister, says that Rowley’s motion is “vexatious, frivolous and irrelevant.” Yet the UNC has undertaken to conduct three public meetings to mobilize its base and every one of its twenty-nine members of parliarment are slated to speak on the motion. That does not seem to be the kind of response that one mounts against a vexatious, frivolous and irrelevant motion, but then there is always a disparity between what the UNC says and what it does.
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Verna wants end to under-age marriage

By Sean Douglas
October 23, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Verna St. Rose-GreavesMINISTER of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Senator Verna St Rose-Greaves, on Friday hinted at an end to the marriage of underage girls as now allowed by law for certain religious groups.

While the age of sexual consent is 16 years old, St Rose-Greaves said that girls are allowed to marry at age 12 or 14 years old, in allusion to special allowances made for Hindu and Muslim marriages.
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Budget for fiscal year 2011-2012

Budget presentation in Parliament at the Waterfront Complex

Budget Statement 2012
Finance Minister Winston Dookeran presented the National Budget for the fiscal year 2011-2012, in Parliament, at the Waterfront Complex, in Port of Spain, this afternoon. Below is the full text of the budget speech:
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Emergency Notes

By Raffique Shah
September 11, 2011

Raffique ShahTHE best crime-fighting measures emerging from the Emergency thus far are the medium-term initiatives Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced when she wound up the motion that saw Parliament extend the State of Emergency for three months. The Selwyn Ryan committee that will look at curbing criminality, the case-flow-management team of attorneys, the proposed amnesty for minor offences and the possible release from prison of convicts who no longer pose a threat to society, if aggressively pursued, would yield more benefits to the society than the steep drop in crimes during the Emergency.
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PM Persad-Bissessar reshuffles Cabinet

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar‘CEO of the Cabinet’ cuts four, changes 16 areas
A reconstituted Government team enters the Second Session of Parliament today with changes to almost half of its areas including a newly-created Ministry of Gender, Children and Youth Affairs, an Information Ministry and a drastically slashed portfolio for Works Minister Jack Warner.

We must do better
PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reshuffled her Cabinet, promoting Dr Delmon Baker as a Minister in the Ministry of Finance, moving Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Collin Partap to be a Minister in the Ministry of National Security, and appointing Minister of Public Utilities Emmanuel George to be Government Chief Whip in the Senate.
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