Padarath, Gonzales: Nothing unusual about joint parliamentary sittings

Barry Padarath, Leader of Government Business. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

LEADER of Government Business Barry Padarath and Opposition Chief Whip Marvin Gonzales have said there is nothing unusual about both houses of parliament sitting on the same day, at the same time.

They made these comments on December 3 after the Parliament revealed simultaneous sittings of the House and Senate on December 5. They are expected to sit in either the northern or southern parliamentary chambers of the Red House.

The Senate will sit to complete debate – which began on December 2 – on the Home Invasion (Self-Defence and Defence of Property) Bill, 2025. A total of 18 senators have spoken in that debate so far, including Attorney General John Jeremie who opened the debate. The Senate has 31 members.

At some time during the Senate's sitting on December 5, Jeremie will make his closing contribution to the debate, before the bill goes to committee stage and a vote is taken.

Only the mover of a motion or bill, in either the House or Senate, has an opening and closing contribution to debate on that motion or bill. No other has this privilege.

The House passed the bill on November 26. The bill requires a three-fifths majority for passage in both houses and this equates to 25 voting yes in the House of Representatives, and 19 votes in the Senate.

In the Senate, government has 15 members, therefore to pass the bill, government needs to get four supporting votes from among the pool of six opposition senators and nine independent senators.

Marvin Gonzales, Opposition Chief Whip. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle

The House will sit on December 5 to debate the Finance Bill, 2025.

A finance bill is legislation which normally follows the passage of a budget and its purpose is to effect some of the policies outlined in the budget.

In a WhatsApp message, Padarath said, "One of the main reasons there are two chambers in the Red House is for occurrences like this where both houses can sit simultaneously."

He added, "We have key pieces of legislation that we promised the population to pursue, we are keeping that promised, so stay tuned."

Padarath, who is also Public Utilities Minister and Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, said, "This is not unusual, up to last week both houses met simultaneously. It was seamless."

He added, "We are not legislatively lazy like the PNM."

In a separate WhatsApp message, Gonzales also saw nothing unusual with simultaneous sittings on the same day and time. "We have precedent for this. Nothing unusual to me."