Given the extreme importance of the passage of a new Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) Act by both Houses of Parliament as soon as possible, the outcome of the debate on this matter at Friday's sitting of the lower house was an indictment of all concerned: the Speaker, the Government, and the Opposition.
That's because the importance of the TIEA is that it puts a legislative seal of approval on the Government's compliance with the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which must be in place by February. If not, the ability of T&T to pay for imports and transact business with the US may be severely constrained.
On the issue of the Speaker, among Bridgid Annisette-George's responsibilities is the enforcement of the observance of all rules for the preservation of order in the proceedings and the interpretation of the standing orders and practices of the House.
Given those responsibilities, given the public furore over the calamitous, recent spate of murders and the importance of the substantive debate on the TIEA, the Speaker should have accommodated Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's request to adjourn the debate on the substantive motion to facilitate a debate on the crime situation in T&T as a definite matter of urgent public importance.
According to the standing orders, the Speaker's acquiescence of that request would have meant an adjournment of the substantive debate on the TIEA at 6 pm for a maximum of one hour.
It is puzzling that the Speaker refused to agree to a one-hour debate and then asked the Opposition Leader to withdraw from Parliament for questioning her judgment. The Opposition's decision to walk out of Parliament after its leader, Mrs Persad-Bissessar, was asked to withdraw by the Speaker is also puzzling.
Surely, given the importance of the substantive debate, those members of the Opposition who remained should have put forward their views of the legislation. Their walkout plays into government's characterisation of the Opposition as being irresponsible and having an ulterior motive for not wanting a debate on the FATCA legislation. After the Opposition walked out, the Government continued the debate and Minister of Finance Colm Imbert began his winding-up presentation.
The result of Mr Imbert's action is that the Opposition is not likely to have an opportunity to present its arguments on this important legislation on the floor of Parliament, which means that their contributions could be restricted to the committee stage, where the bill is subjected to line-by-line scrutiny.
While that may serve the Government's interests, the restriction of the Opposition's input to the committee stage jeopardises the ability of the Government to pass the legislation. That is because the TIEA requires a three-fifths majority in both houses, as it contains some clauses that are perceived to be inconsistent with the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in T&T's Republican Constitution.
The three-fifths majority requirement means the Government needs 25 votes in the House of Representatives when it has 23 MPs, and 19 votes in the Senate when there are 16 government senators. The failure to pass the FATCA legislation would be a further disaster for the T&T economy, which is already experiencing its worst contraction in at least three decades.
Friday's outcome requires all sides to look beyond the pettiness of partisan point-scoring and come quickly to the realization that the passage of the FATCA legislation is in the national interest. If the legislation is not passed, Mr Imbert's casting of blame on the Opposition will be treated with the contempt that that deserves by the new dispensation at Donald Trump's Department of Treasury, which enacted FATCA back in 2010 to target non-compliance by American taxpayers using foreign accounts.