AHEAD of the May 23 ceremonial opening of Parliament, President Christine Kangaloo, has appointed nine Independent Senators who will serve in the 13th Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.
The first session of Parliament will commence with a ceremonial opening at the Red House at 1.30 pm on Friday May 23.
In a news release on May 23, the Office of the President said the Independent Senators are: Anthony Vieira, SC; Deoroop Teemal; Michael Simon de la Bastide, SC; Dr Marlene Attzs; Dr Desiree Murray; Courtney Mc Nish; Candice Jones-Simmons; Alicia Lalite-Ettienne and Francis M. Lewis.
Below are brief bios of the Independent Senators provided by the Office of the President:
Anthony Vieira, returns to Parliament as an Independent Senator, a position he held in the tenth, 11th and 12th Parliaments. He has been an attorney since 1983 in the civil, industrial, family and criminal courts and is certified in sports arbitration and as an advanced commercial mediator.
He was appointed Senior Counsel on May 8, 2023.
[caption id="attachment_1156628" align="alignnone" width="953"] Independent Senator Anthony Vieira -[/caption]
He has acted as legal consultant to the minister of education, a trainer for officers of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Consumer Legislation and Practice and was involved in the review and drafting of the Copyright Bill and the Telecommunications Bill (2000).
Deoroop Teemal is a senior civil engineer and project manager with 44 years’ experience in contract administration, construction implementation and water and waste water engineering. In the socio-cultural field, he has been president of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh since 1998 and president of the National Council of Indian Culture since 2023.
[caption id="attachment_1156627" align="alignnone" width="345"] Independent Senator Deoroop Teemal. -[/caption]
He has served as an Independent Senator since November 2018 and was chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Land and Physical Infrastructure.
Michael Simon de la Bastide, SC, was called to the bar in July 1994 and practises out of Athena Chambers. His areas of practice include civil litigation and in particular maritime/admiralty litigation, construction litigation, medical negligence litigation, contract disputes tort claims and personal injury litigation.
[caption id="attachment_1156630" align="alignnone" width="200"] Michael Simon de la Bastide -[/caption]
He has acted for a variety of clients including multinational corporations, State corporations, leading banking insurance and other financial institutions, shipping companies, civil construction companies as well as smaller service based companies and for private individuals. He has appeared in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council.
Dr Marlene Attzs is a respected economist and academic who is a tenured lecturer in economics at UWI, St Augustine. Attzs has dedicated her career to studying topics relating to sustainable development including the challenges posed by climate change in the Caribbean
