In seeking to move the adjournment of the House sine die, the Leader of Government Business failed to give the Speaker the opportunity to set an early date in order to declare the seat of the member for Chaguanas West vacant so as to trigger the date for a by-election. This unfortunate faux pas has to be corrected without delay so that the people of Chaguanas West will be afforded a representative in the Parliament.
The second point I would like to make is in respect of the candidature of Mr Jack Warner. Since it is well known that some of his colleagues were not in favour of his presence in the Cabinet, the party should allow the Chaguanas constituents the privilege of choosing their candidate, which would obviously be Jack Warner. This would allow those people opposed to Jack to save face.
I do not think that it will be in the interest of anyone in the Government to have Mr Warner face a screening committee. This will obviously humiliate Mr Warner and must be avoided if the unity of the party is to be preserved.
Dr Clifford Ramcharan
St Augustine
