SENATE CONTEMPLATES PM PENSION AMENDMENT BILL

CCNTV6

One Opposition Senator says it's likely the State will face litigation from the one person standing to be infringed by the Prime Minister's Pension Amendment Bill if it does become an act.

Transcript

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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