THE WAIT is over. Everything is now in place. With the ceremonial opening of Parliament on May 23, all the constitutional offices of the state have been filled and unveiled.
The traditional pomp and ceremony of the event – in which MPs were joined by members of the judiciary and the Senate’s independent bench – pointed to its balanced, non-partisan nature.
But the length of time taken for government members of the House of Representatives to be sworn in – it took nearly an hour – was an implicit sign of the power of the new administration, with its three-fifths majority.
In a telling flex, UNC MPs entered the chamber as a unified group only at the last minute at 1.29 pm ahead of the 1.30 pm start time, while opposition PNM MPs sat waiting.
None of it stopped President Christine Kangaloo, in one of the boldest moments of her presidency, from unflinchingly presenting the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government with a wish list of hoped-for legislative reforms during her ceremonial address.
Ms Kangaloo called for measures touching upon AI, powers of attorney, disability rights, road safety and service commissions. This, after making a power play of her own: appointing seven new independents to the nine-strong bench on the eve of the sitting.
But the President’s most striking request was not on her list.
Lamenting the low voter turnout of the April 28 general election, she called for inclusivity, kindness, grace and respect within what she suggested might become a new parliamentary paradigm characterised by “more meaningful collaboration than before.” She pondered whether the advent of historic female leadership might reflect deeper yearnings in the electorate. The Prime Minister thumped her desk when she ended her speech.
Grasping the olive branch, Ms Persad-Bissessar alluded to Ms Kangaloo in her own subsequent greeting, saying she welcomed the new independents.
But it will not be all kumbaya in the 13th Parliament.
The UNC leader, in a fiery and at times stirring speech, which she began by referring to a long-standing grouse with Parliament staff over the lack of a clock for opposition members, stated, “Sometimes we won’t agree” and said her government had received an “overwhelming mandate.”
And Pennelope Beckles put the government on notice that her side would not embrace “undemocratic measures” and that she expected “debates to be vigorous.”
Ms Kangaloo herself said Parliament works best “when its members fight and fight hard.”
With three parties, including the TPP, now seated in the House, and with the prospect of special-majority legislation being closely scrutinised by a revitalised independent Senate bench – with figures like economist Dr Marlene Attz and former PSC member Courtney Mc Nish now included – the hard fights may soon begin, notwithstanding the power of the government and the President’s wishes.
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