Pastor Dottin a temporary Senator

Dottin, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, was appointed to act in the place of Independent Paul Richards who is ill. The appointment came at a time of scrutiny on President’s House, given Carmona’s 15-day delay in assenting a controversial law enacted last month as well as questions over two of his recent appointees of temporary Independents.

Dottin is known for outspoken and sometimes eyebrow-raising remarks. In 2013, he said assassins from Latin American countries had joined forces with the local mafia to create “schizophrenic monsters” out to kill and maim local citizens.

Also appointed as a temporary Independent yesterday was Albert Sydney.

The Senate paid tribute to Clive Spencer who served as an Independent Senator from November 1966 to October 1970 and who died on June 2, at the age of 79. He was a former President General of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union (SWWTU); President of the TT Labour Congress; chairman of the committee on the establishment of Workers Bank; and a member of the committee which established National Awards. Spencer was also, at various stages, CEO and chairman of the Port Authority, where he served from 1992 to 2011. He received a Chaconia Medal Silver in 1970.

Government Senate Whip Franklin Khan said Spencer was 30 upon being appointed as an Independent Senator. “While the trend now is to appoint young senators, in the 1960s that was not the case,” Khan said. He said Spencer was a rare example of a labour official moving to management.

He said Spencer was not very wellknown in the national community and that he did not know him personally.