Parliamentary sources say the Trinidad & Tobago government is likely to withdraw a bill that seeks changes to the country's Integrity in Public Life.It's because opposition and independent members who have a majority in the Senate are unhappy with some of its provisions and are expected to vote against it.
The most contentious part of the legislation is Clause 12, which introduces a new complaints procedure that abolishes anonymous complaints to the Commission and replaces it with a system that requires persons making complaints to file affidavits and give specifics of their complaints in writing. It also requires the complaint to be submitted either in person or by registered mail.
The amendments also impose hefty fines on anyone who makes false complaints. In condemning the legislation Independent Senator Prof. Ramesh Deosaran suggested that such a change would discourage people from filing complaints. "It is my view that the medicine would kill the patient," he said.
But government minister Senator Mariano Browne disagreed. "Those complaints must be justified. Nobody is saying that you cannot make an error...but at the same token, there must be a reasonable basis for moving forward... Otherwise, we would enfranchise the maliciousness, the mauvais langue and the maccociousness.
"And we need to be able to deal with that. And that is the practical reality that this amendment seeks to address," he said.
Read the story: Scrap amendments to Integrity BillFormer Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George, in debating the amendments in the Senate on May 12, argued that the purpose of tightening the complaints procedure was to prevent persons in public life from suffering “harassment, pain and anxiety” from “mischievous complaints.”
The b
ill is listed on the Order Paper for Tuesday's sitting of the Senate.Sources say the government might remove it from the floor and refer the legislation to a committee, which would then prepare a report and make recommendations
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