PNM’s Laven­tille West MP Fitzger­ald Hinds has been ap­point­ed PNM deputy leader (leg­isla­tive) re­plac­ing PNM MP and for­mer min­is­ter Mar­lene Mc­Don­ald.

The an­nounce­ment was made at the end of yes­ter­day’s PNM con­ven­tion. Oth­er PNM deputies are Joan Yuille Williams, Ro­han Sinanan and PNM To­ba­go Leader Kelvin Charles. Hinds is min­is­ter in the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s Min­istry.

Mc­Don­ald had been PNM deputy leader (leg­isla­tive) since 2010. That post had been va­cant since she was fired from it in Au­gust soon af­ter be­ing placed on sev­en al­leged cor­rup­tion charges. She was al­so fired from her min­is­te­r­i­al post and has been a PNM back­bencher in Par­lia­ment since.

Al­so at yes­ter­day’s con­ven­tion, At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Faris Al-Rawi, com­ment­ing on whether he’ll be con­test­ing in his San Fer­nan­do West con­stituen­cy in the gen­er­al elec­tions, said that seat is “his home and his love” and he’d be pleased to al­ways rep­re­sent it if PNM’s San Fer­nan­do West ex­ec­u­tive, PNM’s po­lit­i­cal leader and the par­ty’s screen­ing com­mit­tee al­lowed it.

“If I had my way I’d be screened for it in two min­utes flat,” Al-Rawi added.

Al-Rawi al­so said pro­posed leg­is­la­tion will be tak­en to Cab­i­net this week on de­crim­i­nal­is­ing mar­i­jua­na. He said this will ex­tend to de­crim­i­nal­is­ing im­por­ta­tion, ex­pung­ing the records of per­sons with con­vic­tions for weed pos­ses­sion and oth­er as­pects. He said de­crim­i­nal­is­ing mar­i­jua­na will re­sult in a 76 per cent drop in the foren­sic work­load. Al­so, the Sen­ate meets on Tues­day morn­ing on the Bail Amend­ment Bill to cur­tail bail for those with a firearm charge for the first time.