Don’t make mistake again

The calls were made yesterday during debate on the Tobago House of Assembly Election (Validation) Bill which became necessary as the date of January 23 was one day short of the requisite 21 days after nominations.

Independent Senator Taurel Shrikissoon expressed concern that all correspondence from the stakeholders, the Elections and Boundaries Commission, the THA Chief Secretary, the President and the Prime Minister, was on December 14, all one day. He said that he was not there to ascribe blame but there was a fundamental flaw for the choice of dates and the writs as well.

“It was rushed and last minute,” he added. He said the consultative process was not given enough time and the error could have been avoided with proper care and due diligence. He pointed out that the writs were issued by December 13 then the date proposed would have been correct.

“The last minute approach to governance cannot work. It cannot be standard operating procedure,” he stressed.

Shrikissoon said the powersthat- be should not be waiting for deadlines approaching to get into high gear and mentioned the FATCA legislation. He stressed that as a citizen, he wants this style and approach to governance to be addressed.

He pointed out that according to law, the political directorate chose the minimum timeframe for the elections to be held.

Independent Senator Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir said a genuine error was made and he does not believe it was “malevolent”. He pointed out the time period was mid-December and this was a time that every State agency and citizen is more involved in winding down operations than looking at new materials.

He agreed with Opposition Senator Wade Mark that the people of Tobago had lost a day of campaigning though he could not say whether it would influence the outcome of the elections.

He pointed out that with the extraordinary sitting parliamentarians would have to come out and parliamentary staff would have to work overtime representing a cost to the State to correct the error.

Mahabir stressed a need to put in measures mechanisms to ensure it did not happen again.

He noted the THA, the Office of the Prime Minister, the EBC and the Office of the President were involved and none picked up on the problem.

He said he would have expected the Chief Election Officer would have replied to the secretary of the Cabinet that the date was not correct. He said the problem was caused by the agencies in silos and cracks that exist and there is a need to “plaster the cracks”.

He advised the Chief Election Officer should ensure all obvious legal requirements are complied with and when there are elections in the future one officer should be held responsible for all administrative requirements.

Independent Senator Melissa Ramkissoon said not enough checks and balances were in place and pointed out that this was not the first validation by this Parliament.

She suggested one way to avoid errors was to look at fixed election dates.