Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Orville London is proposing that legislation governing the assembly should be amended to allow the President to use his own discretion to appoint two councillors to the assembly.This comes in the wake of London's People's National Movement winning all 12 electoral districts in the January 21 THA election.
A release from London's office yesterday said the General Purposes Committee of Cabinet had been asked to deliberate on the proposalLondon wrote to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on January 23 with the proposal and said the PM replied that the Cabinet discussed the matter last Thursday and referred it to the committee.
London had told Persad-Bissessar appropriate arrangements should be made to allow for views alternative to those of the winning party to be expressed in the assembly.He also suggested that in the light of the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill No 1 of 2013 before Parliament, which proposes constitutional change for the relationship between T&T and for the operations of the Tobago House of Assembly, the legislative change should immediately address the situation.
London said the proposal would address the current situation as an interim relief, pending the passage of comprehensive amendments to the relevant laws.Given the urgency created by the results of the election, he said, Government should seek to have the Parliament approve the change to the legislation to allow that provision to be implemented.