00:00An independent senator says she will continue to do what she considers to be in the best interests of the
00:06people of Trinidad and Tobago,
00:08following the Prime Minister's criticism of the vote of all nine independent senators against the special operations bill.
00:16Jewel Brown reports.
00:18Independent Senator Dr. Marley Nats responded to TV6 News' request for comment
00:23about Prime Minister Kamala Persaud-Basassa's description of the nine independent senators as demons
00:29after all of them and the six opposition senators voted against the special operations bill in the Senate.
00:35I have not heard the comments myself, I have not heard them utter directly from the Prime Minister
00:42and if they were indeed made by the Prime Minister, I think such language, apart from it being disappointing,
00:49really does little to reassure the country or to advance what I would call nation-building discourse.
00:55Under Section 40 of the Constitution, nine senators are appointed by the president in the president's discretion.
01:02As an independent senator, I may not always agree with the government,
01:06but scrutiny of proposed and proposed amendments to any legislation that comes before us
01:12is an integral part of the legislative process.
01:17From my perspective, I will certainly continue to examine matters each on its own merits
01:23and I will continue to do what I consider to be in the best interest of the people of Trinidad
01:28and Tobago.
01:29The special operations bill is meant to establish seven policing districts
01:33and allow for closed areas to be declared based on particular security concerns
01:38that would require permits to enter and leave those areas.
01:42I also wonder how investors or potential investors looking on a Trinidad and Tobago,
01:49because an investor doesn't simply make a financial investment decision on the basis of what the numbers look like.
01:55They look at the temperature in the country as well, temperature and the tone coming out from different segments of
02:02the economy.
02:03They look at that as part of their due diligence in terms of making investment decisions.
02:07So I also wonder how investors might be receiving some of the utterances coming out of the country
02:13and how they might interpret such language.
02:15The prime minister said of the independent senators that if they want to write legislation,
02:20they should fight elections to earn a seat in parliament.
02:23But if indeed the prime minister did utter those words,
02:28it is ironic that they would have been uttered at a time when he was celebrating or marking 50 years
02:34as a republic.
02:34And enshrined in the Republican constitution that we marked 50 years of just yesterday
02:42is the role of the independent senators,
02:44a sophisticated legislative arrangement that allows for these independent senators
02:49to look beyond party lines and to review legislative matters in what is meant to be the national interest.
02:58The legislation was passed when the Senate president used his vote to break a 15-15 deadlock at the end
03:04of the debate.
03:05June Brown, TV6 News.
03:08Those stories bring us to tonight's PeopleMeter.
03:11We ask, do you support the independent senators' right to vote as they see fit?
03:17To vote text yes or no to the number 766-4886 or 766-4TV6.
03:23And we'll bring you the results at the end of the newscast.
03:29Coming up.
