- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 06/Jul 13:46

‘Unfair’ pension and senators

DOES Stuart Young really deserve a $87,000 pension for the rest of his life having served only 42 days as PM? Are the president’s nine senators really “independent?” These two related issues noisily arose regarding the controversial Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which the UNC comfortably passed with its majority. Now I declare that whether it’s Mr Young or anybody else, I found the 1969 Pension Act existed with a large loophole. Do you mean any MP could serve for less than a year, or even two days and get a full pension as what someone serving for five years would get? Worse yet, in our politics it is also possible that a party could put up two MPs as PM to serve less than one year. Something had to be done. Before proceeding, I wish to note that India’s PM Narendra Modi’s visit to this country was not only of cultural interest but of serious economic, medical, technological and educational value to us – opportunities which our government should now streamline into operational mode. I remain amazed at how quickly and efficiently Modi’s visit was arranged. I also welcome our new St Joseph/Aranguez MP Devesh Maharaj with his promise to serve all of us here. Knowing him as I do, and as Minister of Justice, it is fair to say he has brought political prestige and parliamentary dignity to this constituency. Of course, we will see how things go. The senate debate on the Pension Bill was quite instructive. It helped reveal that there is lawyer and lawyer and that somebody should clarify for parliamentarians that parliament is not a court house but an institution where the wider public interest, reasonableness, equity and justice must get priority, even when it means changing the law. For those who wish, the court may come after. Further, like democracy itself, a country’s constitution is a work in progress – always available for change when the need for justice calls upon it. Constitutional dogmatism must not stand in the face of reasonableness and justified equity as Minister of Justice, Attorney General John Jeremie and Labour Minister Leroy Baptiste so persuasively argued. The bill was constitutional. It came like a fresh breeze to hear how thoughtfully independent senators, Micheal Simon de la Bastide and human resource specialist Courtney Mc Nish, balanced two sides of the bill to correct the pension anomaly. Denying “political bias,” Independent Senator Deoraj Teemal, like senators Francis Lewis and Alicia Lalite-Ettienne, supported the bill for reasons of equity too. Notably, five of the nine independent senators supported the government’s bill. It was instructive to witness Justice Minister demolishing the “ad hominem” accusations that the bill was aimed, as Independent Senator Anthony Vieira forcefully argued, at “only one person.” Maharaj told the accusers that the name of the bill is “The Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill 2025” aimed, indeed, at only one person, the PM. So it is “ad hominem” but not mischieviously so. He stood silent for a minute, scratching his head, maybe wondering why his distinguished legal colleagues didn’t recognise this. He then went on to explain the “measured and proportionate approach” to use taxpayers’ money to pay for service rendered. The Pension Bill sought to provide prorated pension payments for a PM serving “not less than one year” at one third pension up to “not less than four years” at full pension. One passionate senator reminded me of former president and attorney ANR Robinson’s observation how some lawyers fight as if trying to find out “how many angels can dance on the top of a needle.” Serious concerns about the “independence” of the nine independent senators graphically came UNC PRO Dr Kirk Meighoo followed by PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Meighoo, using voting patterns as “evidence,” pointed to former Independent Senator Paul Richards who voted “16 times on 16 occasions” for the PNM government with senator Vieira voting similarly “15 times on 16 occasions” He didn’t spare former senators Dr Varma Deyalsingh (14 times for PNM), Hazel Thompson-Ahye (14 times), Meighoo’s alleged source for this “bias” is the PNM background of President Christine Kangaloo who appointed the nine. Senate President Wade Mark’s warning and Senator Vieira’s threat to take Meighoo to court should really go to court to test “free speech” vs “parliament privilege.” Meighoo retorted: “As a political scientist, I have an inalienable right to freedom of expression.” Finally, as long as we live with our very divided political system, structured with political appointments, and given the inevitable effects of political perception, we will have an endless struggle with “political bias.” The post ‘Unfair’ pension and senators appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.