Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor-Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) Sen­a­tors Janelle John-Bates and Faris Al-Rawi are ex­pect­ed to learn next week whether they will be stripped of their seats in the Up­per House.

How­ev­er, the Leader of Gov­ern­ment Busi­ness in the Low­er House has warned that the Gov­ern­ment in­tends to pur­sue the mat­ter both in­side and out­side of Par­lia­ment.

Speak­ing at a me­dia con­fer­ence yes­ter­day, Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les ac­knowl­edged pub­lic in­ter­est in the is­sue and said a de­ci­sion was im­mi­nent.

“When this in­ci­dent oc­curred, I was out of the coun­try. Up­on my re­turn, I re­quest­ed re­ports from both Sen­a­tor John-Bates and Sen­a­tor Al-Rawi, which I have re­ceived, and I will make my de­ci­sion next week,” Beck­les said.

John-Bates was last week re­moved from the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Ap­pro­pri­a­tions Com­mit­tee (PAAC) fol­low­ing al­le­ga­tions that she com­pro­mised the com­mit­tee’s in­tegri­ty by us­ing “Track Changes” to ed­it a wit­ness state­ment for for­mer Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh ahead of his sched­uled ap­pear­ance.

Al-Rawi’s name al­so ap­peared in the work­ing doc­u­ment.

Though he is not a mem­ber of the com­mit­tee, the PAAC’s re­port raised con­cerns about whether it was im­prop­er for a se­nior po­lit­i­cal fig­ure to as­sist a wit­ness in shap­ing a state­ment for a par­lia­men­tary over­sight body.

Beck­les’ rul­ing will be among the most con­se­quen­tial de­ci­sions since she as­sumed lead­er­ship of the PNM on June 29, 2025.

Asked whether she felt pres­sure, Beck­les said her fo­cus re­mained on due process.

“The most im­por­tant thing is to en­sure that I have all the facts be­fore mak­ing a de­ci­sion. I’ve been a sen­a­tor be­fore and I’m now a Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment. Yes, there will be pres­sure and many rec­om­men­da­tions, but ul­ti­mate­ly, the de­ci­sion is mine,” she said.

“It was my de­ci­sion to ap­point her, and what­ev­er de­ci­sion I make will al­so be mine. That said, it is im­por­tant to ben­e­fit from dis­cus­sions with col­leagues and to con­sid­er the var­i­ous per­spec­tives put for­ward.”

Mean­while, Leader of Gov­ern­ment Busi­ness in the Low­er House, Bar­ry Padarath, said the Gov­ern­ment is close­ly mon­i­tor­ing the sit­u­a­tion.

He not­ed that the Barataria/San Juan MP, along with oth­er Gov­ern­ment MPs, served on the com­mit­tee that ex­am­ined the mat­ter.

“There is a Joint Se­lect Com­mit­tee re­port that has been laid on this is­sue, and I urge cau­tion in how this is ap­proached, as it may very well be sub­ject to par­lia­men­tary de­bate and pub­lic ac­count­abil­i­ty,” Padarath said.

He added, “This rep­re­sents an abuse of par­lia­men­tary democ­ra­cy and process. For those two sen­a­tors to con­tin­ue sit­ting in the Sen­ate un­der the PNM is a mat­ter we will pur­sue, both in­side and out­side of Par­lia­ment.”

The PAAC’s Spe­cial Re­port rec­om­mend­ed that John-Bates’ con­duct be re­ferred to the Com­mit­tee of Priv­i­leges to de­ter­mine whether it breached par­lia­men­tary rules.

On Tues­day, she told Guardian Me­dia she would ac­cept the de­ci­sion of her po­lit­i­cal leader.

Al-Rawi de­clined to com­ment.