Turn down the volume

Mark’s outbursts came were in response to statements by Finance Minister Colm Imbert that the former People’s Partnership (PP) government was interfering in the selection of the procurement regulator before it demitted office in September 2015. Mark countered that the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) was trying to “hijack the procurement process” and he had a document to prove this.

When Kangaloo told Mark not to shout, Mark replied, “I am not shouting.” Kangaloo told him his right to speak was not being curtailed but he did not have to shout as he contributed to the debate.

While Mark said he would “try to take it down,” he repeatedly shouted at government senators as he rejected Imbert’s comments.

The Senate was suspended for 15 minutes around 3.06 pm but it was not until 3.30 pm that Kangaloo returned. Mark complied with her rulings Imbert said the total package of $85,000 (including a monthly salary of $50,000) per month was being offered to the procurement regulator. Noting Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s salary is $59,680 per month and his own salary was $41,030 per month, Imbert said it was “outrageous for the Opposition to be calling for the regulator to receive a monthly salary of $100,000. He disclosed that under the PP, CEOs of subsidiaries of State Enterprises were being paid that kind of salary for doing nothing and that was, “the low end of the scale.” Imbert said it was “pure hypocrisy” for the Opposition to claim the PNM was interfering in the selection of the regulator by assisting the Office of the President in the recruitment of a firm that would undertake this exercise. He disclosed that a committee chaired by former Senate president Timothy Hamel-Smith was overseeing an exercise that would have led to his ministry playing a direct role in the regulator’s selection. Imbert said Government is taking “a hands off approach” unlike the PP.

Independent Senator David Small supported the objective of the motion but was concerned that the country would not get the regulator it needed to unwind, “decades of accepted corruption.” Small was concerned that the compensation package being offered could result in an underpaid “procurement czar.”Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat supported Imbert as he noted the Financial Intelligence Unit director deals with billions of dollars in suspicious transaction reports and does not receive a monthly salary as high as $100,000.