Back to back sittings this week

On March 3, Newsday reported that Cabinet’s weekly meeting will take place in Tobago on Thursday and there will be a meeting between government ministers and their secretary counterparts in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) on March 10. Newsday understsands the venue for both meetings could be the Magdalena Grand Hotel.

The House sits today from 2.30 pm to debate the Indictable Offences (Pre-Trial Procedure) Bill, 2017.

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi will open debate on the bill, which is designed to abolish preliminary inquiries. Today’s House sitting is the second for this month and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will field questions from the Opposition during Prime Minister’s Questions.

There could be questions posed to Rowley or to other government ministers in the Urgent Questions period, regarding the hiring of a US firm to undertake lobbying efforts on behalf of the Government. The final legislative hurdle to ensure TT is compliant with the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) of the United States will be dealt with on Tuesday when the Senate sits from 1.30 pm to debate the Tax Information Exchange Agreements Bill 2016.

The bill was passed with amendments in the House on February 23, after the House agreed with a report from the joint select committee (JSC) established to treat with the bill. The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in the House and in the Senate, with the latter equating to 19 votes. The Government, Opposition and Independent benches in the Senate have 15, six and nine votes respectively.

Government officials last week said government ministers and their THA counterparts will discuss issues of mutual interest when then meet on Friday. Some of the issues expected to be discussed in the meetings on March 10 include security, finance, tourism and agriculture.

After the People’s National Movement (PNM) won the September 7, 2015 General Elections, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley told Newsday an arrangement was made for Cabinet to meet at least twice a year in Tobago. The Prime Minister explained the rationale behind this was to foster closer ties between Central Government and the THA