00:00Debate kicked off in the Senate today over the Prime Minister's Pension Amendment Bill.
00:05One of the tenants requires a Prime Minister to serve at least one year to qualify for the full pension.
00:12The bill also seeks to introduce a tiered system of meritocracy,
00:17where maximum benefits of pensions are earned rather than bestowed
00:23for an individual serving for four years or more as Prime Minister.
00:28Mr. President, the bill has retroactive effect from March 10, 2025,
00:36thereby requiring a special majority of three-fifths.
00:40The Planning and Development Minister, as he led the debate,
00:43sought to show how disproportional the existing law is.
00:47A person can be Prime Minister for a nanosecond
00:50and is still entitled to the top pension of someone
00:55who has been Prime Minister for four years or more.
00:59I wish to wholeheartedly indicate that this notion is not only unacceptable,
01:05it is unfair and unjust and against sound human resource principles.
01:11Opposition Senator Faris al-Rawi put on record,
01:14if the bill does not pass and current law pertains, the PNM stands to benefit.
01:19All of our members who are belonging to the people's national movement,
01:26we contribute 5% of our income to our party to run itself.
01:30The opposition, he however says in principle, support the intention of the bill,
01:35but there's a but.
01:36This law, in clause 2, in saying that the law is retrospective,
01:44it applies in the past, from the 10th of March,
01:46will therefore only identifiably strike at one human being
01:52in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,
01:54and that is Mr. Stuart Richard Young, Senior Counsel,
01:58who is the Member of Parliament for Fortisbury, North St. Antwerth,
02:01sitting right now as a former Prime Minister.
02:03It interferes, he says, with Stuart Young's right to enjoyment of property,
02:08and the state will likely face litigation if the bill does become an act.
02:13Meanwhile, the Attorney General recounts a public outcry
02:16when the Salaries Review Commission report was accepted.
02:19When that happened, obviously there was a hue and cry outside in the street.
02:26And the after effects of that is this in front here, in part.
02:34And they would be disingenuous if they were not to see that their selfishness
02:40and their complete callousness towards ordinary workers,
02:45those people who work here with us in this place,
02:49those people who work with our colleagues in the other place,
02:53public servants, nurses, teachers, ordinary people,
02:58were being said, they were being told,
03:01no increase for you, we can't afford it.
03:04And public sentiment was well demonstrated, he said,
03:08in today's composition of the Parliament.
03:10People would take to the streets and express their views on something like this.
03:16In this country, as one of my colleagues on the other side said,
03:24in a different context, the attitude was, they ain't right yet.
03:30Well, they didn't.
03:32But the people waited.
03:34And an election came and the people spoke.
03:37Labor Minister Leroy Batiste told the House on the flip side,
03:42he has been contacted by daily paid workers
03:44who at the age of 60 are being sent home without a pension.
03:48Nothing that this government is in fact proposing on behalf of the PM salary
03:55would disadvantage anyone.
03:59No one.
04:01What people have sat here and attempt to justify one way or the next,
04:05from where I see it, is just wrong.
04:07No one could justify a fleeting six weeks equal a million dollars a year.
04:13That simply cannot be justified, not to the taxpayers of this country.
04:17Arvishit Tawari, Rupner Ayan, TV6 News.
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