House special sitting deals only with crime

CRIME and how to reduce it will be the only focus of the House when it meets in a special session at Tower D of the Port of Spain International Waterfront from 1.30 pm on Wednesday.

Parliament is currently on its mid-year recess but can be recalled during this period to deal with any urgent matter.

The only item on the House's agenda will be to debate the Bail Amendment Bill 2019 which requires a three-fifths majority for passage. In the House, this equates to 25 votes which means at least two of the Opposition's 18 MPs need to vote with the Government's 23 MPs to pass the bill.

One of the main objectives of the bill is to tighten access to bail to a repeat offender involved in firearm crimes. A person over the age of 18 who commits an offence under the Anti-Gang Act can be sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Someone charged with an offence under the Dangerous Drugs Act could be sentenced to ten or more years in jail. The bill was debated and passed with amendments on June 12 in the Senate with the support of Government and Independent senators. The bill was passed then by a vote of 24 for and six against.

Should the House pass the bill with further amendments, the Senate may be recalled to approve those amendments before the bill is sent to the President for assent and then subsequently proclaimed into law. Earlier today, Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis confirmed that the bill is the only item which the House will deal with on Wednesday.

"In the vacation, when you call a special sitting it is to deal with a specific matter, nothing else," she said. This means no questions, statements, debates on other motions or bills or matters on the adjournment will be entertained.

Under the former People's Partnership government, Parliament was recalled in August 2014 to pass the controversial run off bill which attempted to introduce proportional representation into the following year's general election. The legislation was later scrapped before the election.