The Senate is due to reconvene today but is yet to receive any indication on whether People’s National Movement (PNM) leader Pennelope Beckles has accepted the resignation of Senator Janelle John-Bates, some 11 days after she tendered it.
John-Bates declined to comment, while repeated attempts to obtain a response from Beckles went unanswered yesterday.
The prolonged silence has intensified scrutiny over the handling of the matter, with former House speaker Barendra Sinanan warning that changes to parliamentary standing orders cannot address what he describes as a deeper erosion of ethics and accountability within T&T’s Parliament.
Sinanan was responding to the controversy surrounding edits to a parliamentary witness statement submitted by former health minister Terrence Deyalsingh to the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).
The document, submitted with track changes still visible, revealed edits by John-Bates, who was a member of the PAAC, as well as Senator Faris Al-Rawi.
John-Bates resigned on May 1, more than two weeks after the issue first became public on April 14. But Sinanan argues the resignation should have come immediately.
“Belatedly, Senator Bates did the right thing. Halfway, I would say. She should have actually resigned from the Senate (immediately). The fact that everybody’s doing it doesn’t excuse what she’s done. She just got caught,” he said via telephone last evening.
Sinanan also criticised attempts by the Opposition to accuse House Speaker Jagdeo Singh of misconduct over his role in chairing the parliamentary inquiry into pharmaceutical procurement.
The PNM has cited Singh’s past legal work, referenced in a 2024 newspaper article, involving clients who raised concerns about alleged “drug cartels” in the pharmaceutical sector. The Opposition later wrote to Deputy House Speaker Dr Aiyna Ali, requesting that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.
However, Sinanan maintains that “two wrongs do not make a right.”
“Things have degenerated in this country, right up, even in the Parliament. That’s basically what it is. We have lost our moral compass, our ethical compass, everything,” he added.
Sinanan also argued that legislation alone cannot repair what he sees as a broader decline in public standards.
“The day we start to do that, I don’t know if there’ll be enough timber in the country to make paper because you cannot—you really cannot legislate for everything. This is something that you have to know that is inherently wrong or right, and this was wrong,” he said.
The delay in resolving John-Bates’ resignation has also drawn criticism from political scientists.
Dr Indira Rampersad warned that Beckles’ hesitation risks damaging both her authority and the public image of the PNM.
“If it is a strategy, it is a strategy that can seriously backfire. Because the indecisiveness is a suggestion of weakness. It could be perceived as the party having no burning desire to do what is ethical.”
Rampersad warned that the delay could also undermine the PNM’s ability to challenge the Government on issues of integrity and accountability, as opponents are likely to point to the party’s handling of the John-Bates matter in response.
She suggested there may be concerns within the party that acting swiftly could be viewed as conceding to political pressure from the Government, but argued that immediate action would instead strengthen the party’s credibility.
“Acting is not actually playing into the UNC’s hands. Actually, acting urgently will work to the benefit of the PNM. They have to act urgently.”
