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  • 7 months ago
The government has introduced a Bill to Parliament, which, when effected, will deny former Prime Minister Stuart Young from receiving the Prime Minister's pension.

Former Senate President, Timothy-Hamel Smith, says MP Young should have publicly declared that he would not accept the pension, the day following the general election.

However Hamel-Smith says the least Young should do now, is abstain from the vote when it comes to the house. Rynessa Cutting has more.
Transcript
00:00A date is yet to be set for the debate on the Prime Minister's Pension Amendment Bill 2025,
00:07which seeks to amend the Prime Minister's Pension Act to require a person to serve at least one year as Prime Minister
00:13in order to qualify for a Prime Minister's pension.
00:18The bill will have retroactive effect to the 10th of March 2025,
00:22which means former Prime Minister Stuart Young will not be eligible for the pension.
00:27Former Senate President Timothy Amel Smith believes Young should take a principled position on the matter.
00:35I would have expected Mr. Young to avoid this national embarrassment entirely
00:40and to demonstrate a sense of noblesse oblige by voluntarily declining the pension,
00:49given the extremely limited nature of his tenure as Prime Minister.
00:52I don't know what Mr. Young intends to say about it.
00:56If I was him, I would refrain from voting just to say that, you know, I have an interest in this
01:04and therefore I think I should excuse myself from participating in the debate and the vote for that matter.
01:13And while the government has a required three-fifths majority to pass the bill in the lower house,
01:18former Senate President Timothy Amel Smith says it will be interesting to see how the PNM MPs vote.
01:26Any right-thinking person would support this.
01:30I don't know what the opposition intend to do.
01:33I mean, you have, you know, the strange thing about the position is right now people are suggesting
01:39that there's some inciting among the opposition.
01:42Will there be opposition members looking to embarrass Mr. Young further by supporting the bill?
01:49I don't know.
01:51You know, that's hard to predict.
01:53But that's possible, you know.
01:55The former Senate president notes there is another legislative way to address the government's concerns
02:01without infringing on constitutional rights, but admits it would not be retroactive.
02:07One that would have avoided the need for a special majority would have been to craft the amendment
02:14to protect vested pensions already granted and being received,
02:20avoid retroactive harm to any past recipients,
02:24apply objective, transparent criteria going forward,
02:28and ensure proportionality and fairness in the treatment of those who may sue for shorter periods.
02:35This type of forward-looking legislation would likely have required only a simple majority
02:42since it would not infringe any of crude legal or constitutional rights.
02:48It may be, however, that the government is concerned with Mr. Stuart Young.
02:53TV6 News was unable to secure a response from MP Young.
02:57Renessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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