MPs get down to work

THE CEREMONIAL opening of Parliament on May 23 was the party. But today’s sitting of the House of Representatives is the start of work.

The high choreography of the opening will make way for the dance of government business, the issuing of statements, the asking and answering of questions, the tabling of reports and the conducting of debates.

MPs function outside of Parliament. They are in touch with constituents round the clock and have regular sessions at constituency offices. Some have this week been on the ground responding to floods.

But it is in the House that these officials fulfil their function.

It is there that they give voice to those they represent. It is there that they enact government policies and, with opposition members, question those policies.

Even before the Order Paper for June 13 was published, the agenda had begun to take shape.

Moments after being sworn in on May 3, the Prime Minister indicated to reporters that the repeal of the TTRA would be fast coming. The paper published this week confirms this, with the TTRA (Repeal) Bill due to be introduced alongside the Children’s Life Fund (Amendment) Bill, reflecting a signature concern of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration.

But the legislative schedule also yields nominal echoes of sittings past.

As was the case when MPs got down to work in 2010 at the start of Ms Persad-Bissessar’s first term, there are once again notifications for nominations of a commissioner of police and a deputy.

Back then, the names were Neal Parker (rejected) and Jack Ewatski (approved). This time, the names on paper are Allister Guevarro and Wayne Mystar. The PM has already signalled that reform of the selection process is on the long-term horizon – as it, ironically, also was in 2010 – but the more immediate issue is the settling of police leadership and oversight. The sitting will sharpen the government’s evolving position on both.

Under the PNM, the first working days of Parliament in 2015 and 2020 were budgets. But the timing of the April 28 general election means what is expected today is, instead, some sign of when the mid-year budget review might occur.

Besides new legislation, there is a flood of papers, as in 2010 when 29 reports were laid, which sometimes happens after long periods. Looking to the past are these reports, many of them overdue.

However, House Leader Barry Padarath, who expects a “hot and heavy” session with government “firing on all cylinders,” has suggested these voluminous documents will be of unusual moment, in a sitting that will be presided over by a new Speaker and feature a new opposition bench and new Tobago MPs – all of it setting the tone for coming years.