Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 24/Jan 07:27

Tell us your senators

EVERY election there is considerable focus on screening candidates for the House of Representatives. But why don’t we hear more about the individuals the parties plan to appoint to the Senate? With entities like the PNM and the UNC still in the throes of deliberating on and telling the country about their selections for the Lower House, we issue a call for all to go even further. Tell us your Upper House selections, too. We do not directly elect senators. We elect MPs. It is only natural for more attention to be paid to screening for the lower chamber. That no prime minister can hold office without being a member of the House of Representatives also entrenches the primacy of that body within political discourse. It is for MPs, as well, to decide who is PM, not senators. And political leaders might wish to keep their cards close to their chest to allow flexibility. For instance, they may wish to wait and see who wins their seat, mindful that they could award a senatorial position to a defeated candidate – especially one deemed worthy of Cabinet – as a kind of consolation prize. Yet might the country not benefit from transparency? The developments surrounding the Prime Minister’s Diego Martin West seat supply an instructive example. Dr Amery Browne, who is currently a senator, has withdrawn his consent to be nominated for consideration for the constituency. As of January 22, several others have risen to the fore, including Hans Des Vignes. But might there not be a role to be played in the future by Dr Browne, a medical doctor by training, in the Senate on behalf of the PNM? By the same token, the UNC rejected Anil Roberts, a senator, for the St Joseph seat in favour of Devesh Maharaj. Does this mean Mr Roberts is gone from the Senate for good? There is a local model for political parties telling us more about their plans regarding the appointed, as opposed to elected, officials. When we look at our municipal government poll, a list of aldermen must be disclosed upfront. Knowing the parties’ plans for senatorial appointments would be helpful, considering the senators’ powerful role in shaping legislation. We have even had situations in which senators have acted as PM of the country. There could be greater transparency about President’s House and selecting independent senators, too, alongside board appointments by Cabinet. Australia, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the US directly elect senators. Currently, we do not. In the meantime, however, should we not mature as a country? Should parties not signal to the electorate their pool of choices? Isn’t that democracy? The post Tell us your senators appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.