HOW PENSION BILL BE A MISTAKE ASKS KPB

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The Opposition Leader says the Government should have picked up the controversial savings clause in a Senior Citizens pension bill long before it made its way to the Parliament.  The Opposition Leader was responding to the Government's announcement that the clause is to be removed and the entire bill is to be withdrawn.  Juhel Browne reports.

Transcript

00:00How could such an important clause that would disenfranchise thousands of elderly people

00:05from their pensions not be noticed for over 18 months?

00:11Were they all asleep at the cabinet table?

00:13The questions posed by opposition leader Kamala Prasad Bissessa during a media conference

00:18on Thursday following the government's explanation on Wednesday about how a clause meant to establish

00:24that senior citizens must not have more than $25,000 in savings in order to be eligible

00:31to receive the senior citizen's pension became part of a bill.

00:36This is what the Prime Minister said on Wednesday.

00:38I came to the attention of the cabinet this morning and there are some communication issues

00:44there where what went to the parliament is not what the policy or the cabinet note directed.

00:57Between the cabinet note and the parliament, adjustments were made without the approval

01:06of the cabinet.

01:07You might ask me, how can I tell you that?

01:12All of that was news to me.

01:14The opposition leader referred to statements made by the Attorney General, Reginald L'Amour,

01:18on Wednesday when he said the clause is to be removed and that the bill is to be withdrawn.

01:24Yesterday, they said the cabinet note was taken to the cabinet in March 2023.

01:32We are now, it was laid on 9th December 2024, which is about 18 months.

01:39That bill has been before the cabinet for about 18 months and it's only Monday.

01:45Yesterday, you called a press conference to say you made a mistake, it was an error.

01:51The opposition leader raised the issue of the savings clause in the bill during the

01:55UNC's Monday Night Forum.

01:57On Thursday, Mrs. Pesad Besesar, who is also a former Prime Minister, outlined the steps

02:02that are taken before a bill is brought to parliament.

02:05She questioned how the inclusion of the savings clause in the bill could have been an error.

02:11You can have a slip, you know, from last week to this week maybe, but 18 months under three

02:19separate sets of review, the LRC, first the cabinet and the policy, then the LRC, which

02:26comprises senior ministers, including the AG, then the Finance Committee, which includes

02:31the Finance Minister and the AG and other senior ministers, and then the whole cabinet

02:35when the notice was taken, and again it goes back for confirmation.

02:40I cannot buy that story, I just don't believe a word.

02:43On Wednesday, Senior Counsel Lamour said he takes responsibility as Attorney General in

02:48response to a question from the media about the public servant who he said had inserted

02:53the savings clause in the bill.

02:55Jule Brown, TV6 News.

03:01Jule Brown, TV6 News.

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