Shame in the Senate

She was apparently removed from the Senate for supporting UNC political leader Winston Dookeran.

To make matters worse this very capable Senator was replaced with Dr Shastri Moonan who apparently had great difficulty in staying awake during proceedings although he has since claimed he was merely resting his eyes. Secondly, the Senate also took a pounding on Thursday from Minister of Local Government, Rennie Dumas, over the reluctance of Opposition and most Independent Senators to back the Government on not extending the terms of sitting Mayors and other officials appointed to regional councils.

An impatient Dumas upset many when he admonished the Senate over the Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill 2006, saying: “You want us to rewrite this amendment and take it back to the House of Representatives?!”

He further shocked Independents and Opposition Senators when he demanded: “For once the Senate should accept the ruling of the House of Representatives.” It fell to Independent Senator Prof Ramesh Deosaran to explain to him that the Upper House does not at all have to fall into line with the Lower House. Deosaran said: “The Senate is not a rubber stamp for the House of Representatives but is to be a check and balance.” Thirdly, Minister of Trade Ken Valley who serves as Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives also caused offence to Senators.

He gave a dubious response to a statement from a recent meeting of the chairmen of five committees comprised of members of both Houses of Parliament who complained of being under-resourced to do their job. These committees are mandated by our Republican Constitution. Of the five bodies, three are Joint Select Committees (JSCs) which monitor the functioning of public bodies and are chaired by Independent Senators Mary King, Ramesh Deosaran, and Parvatee Anmolsingh-Mahabir.

The JSCs and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Accounts (Enterprise) Committee (PAEC) have long complained that they are finding it tough to tackle their huge workload acting as public watchdogs. But in reply to their call for more resources and staff, Valley was dismissive according to a Newsday report. He reportedly said: “Every week they have committee meetings. They are wasting funds. They should use the money to do other things instead of advertising their picture in the newspapers.”

We are concerned by Valley’s remarks but not altogether surprised as he once expressed the view that these JSCs should be abolished and has never publicly retracted that view.

So overall last week was not a good time for the prestige of the Senate. Almost underlining this fact was the passing of former Senate President Ganace Ramdial who in his time was greatly admired by all three groups in the Senate — Government, Opposition, and Independent. Ramdial was respected for his personal dignity and fair play during sittings, being widely remembered in last week’s eulogies for having once used his casting vote in a tied Senate to vote against a Government motion.

Indeed, looking back now the Senate under Ramdial was a model of calm and decorum. We would like to suggest that the current members of both Houses of Parliament take a lesson in dignity from the shining example set by the late Ganace Ramdial. May he rest in peace.