Upper House: A recap of Senate discussions this week

SEVERAL national issues were discussed during sitting of the Senate on Tuesday at the Parliament Tower in Port of Spain. Senior reporter SEAN DOUGLAS covered the sitting and reported on statements made during the Senate’s Q&A session. The following are some briefs on what was said.

* The police killed 169 people following confrontations with officers since 2014, Minister of National Security Stuart Young said in reply to a question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark. Asked about possible inquests, Young said it is not the Government’s role to call for coroner’s inquests.

* In a separate question from Mark, Young said that in 2017, some three police killings were sent to an inquest, including two sent by the TT Police Service (TTPS) Southern Division and one sent by the TTPS Professional Standards Bureau. Since 2018, two cases were sent for inquest, both by the bureau.

* Young said the TTPS has 377 non-operational vehicles, replying to a question in the name of Opposition Senator Anita Haynes. “During 2019, the TTPS will do a full assessment of 200 non-operational vehicles to decide if to dispose or refurbish them.” He said vehicles will be disposed of if they are not feasible to maintain, based on the factors of cost, age and state of disrepair.

* Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said a United States Embassy call for visa applicants to submit computer-generated birth certificates actually applies only to that minority of applicants who are seeking immigrant visas, but not for those seeking tourist travel visas.

* He assured his ministry’s Registrar-General’s Department was quite ready to supply such birth certificates that can be obtained the same-day as sought, replying to a question by Opposition Senator Wade Mark.

* As of January 21, first-time home-owners could enjoy an exemption from stamp duty usually levied by the Board of Inland Revenue, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West told Mark in reply to his urgent question on this measure from Budget 2019.

* Education Minister Anthony Garcia has had no report of any pupil being adversely affected by TTUTA’s legal action in respect of school-based assessment, he said in reply to a question by Opposition Senator Taharqa Obika.

*Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan said nine out of 10 home-owners to be relocated to build the Curepe Interchange had agreed to move.

They had agreed to accept 80 per cent of an estimated value of their properties. The tenth home-owner’s property was not deemed critical to the project.

*Energy Minister Franklin Khan flatly denied the existence of any Mc Kinsey Report on Petrotrin, saying they had assisted the company board merely by a written presentation and a slide presentation. “There is no written report,” he told an insistent Wade Mark.

*In reply to a separate question about mining licences and regulatory control, Khan said his ministry’s Minerals Division had nine vacancies (including four geologists and three mining inspectors and one geo-science surveyor and one draughtsman.)

While he admitted to having “serious concerns” as to how this shortfall could affect monitoring of operators, Khan said vacancies could only be filled by the Services Commission. The division will be part of an upcoming restructuring exercise in his ministry.