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  • 2 months ago
The Government says a bill originally meant to give this country a better advantage at international sports has been expanded to allow for opportunities to diversify the economy.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00The fear-mongering engendered that all of a sudden we'll have this deluge of people coming in.
00:08Well, there are safeguards to that.
00:10Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs David Naked in the Senate
00:14as he piloted the bill seeking to amend the Constitution
00:17to provide for the acquisition of citizenship of persons born outside of Trinidad and Tobago
00:23if the grandparent is or was a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago at the date of birth.
00:30Senator Naked spoke of legislative and innate safeguards.
00:35And what I mean by the innate safeguards,
00:39becoming a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago as third-generation lineage
00:46does not automatically mean that you're going to be placed on a national team.
00:51The coach is up to the discretion of the coach whether you are picked to play or not.
00:55Senator Naked also explained why the bill was expanded beyond its original intent.
01:02We could not only put it for elite athletes that could represent our national team.
01:07We had to make the bill in such a way we offended no one and that's what we did.
01:13And I applaud the Attorney General for that piece of legislation that was brought forward.
01:19Opposition Senator and Senior Counsel Faris al-Rawi spoke right after Senator Naked.
01:24I understand the gist of what he was saying.
01:27That one could not seem to pass a law which could be discriminatory in nature.
01:31The bill is meant to amend Section 17-3 of the Constitution.
01:36We are digitizing the elections and boundaries process as a nation.
01:41And, for example, most people in this country are not aware that persons who are in jail, in remand, vote during the elections.
01:52I can tell you as a matter of fact, remandees, for serious crimes, voted in the last election.
02:00The opposition senator spoke about Section 5 of the Citizenship Act.
02:05The mischief for us comes about in the need for greater analysis of the impact of grandparents by way of dissent.
02:16The analysis is required in consultation with the Elections and Boundaries Commission.
02:23The analysis is required with some of our international players as it relates to anti-terrorism laws.
02:30Of course, the analysis is required in respect of perhaps taxation laws as well.
02:37Senator Naked also spoke about the bill in the context of the long-standing national conversation
02:41about the diversification of Trinidad and Tobago's oil and natural gas revenue-based economy.
02:48We are saying as a government, our Honourable Prime Minister is saying,
02:51OK, we will attempt to diversify the economy and we will get it done.
02:57We will also have diversity in sport and culture.
03:02Why not?
03:03The Senate's debate of the bill was ongoing as of news time.
03:07Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
03:08Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
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