Senate approves gov’t controversial legislation barring former PM from a pension

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

The Senate on Monday night approved legislation which now sets a minimum one-year term in office for any prime minister to qualify for a state pension, as well as a tiered payment structure based on time served.

The legislation has “retroactive” effect from March 10 this year.

The government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar had last weekend achieved the required special majority in the House of Assembly to pass the Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill, 2025, that the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) legislators said was aimed at former Prime Minister Stuart Young, who became head of government on March 17 and lost the April 28 general election.

The bill had required a three-fifths majority to pass in both Houses of Parliament, and as they did last Friday, PNM legislators abstained in the Senate, with the government again securing the necessary numbers as 20 senators voted in favour, and 10, including four independent legislators, abstaining.

The government had said that the legislation introduces two significant amendments; a minimum service requirement in that a person appointed as prime minister on or after August 31, 1962 – the date the island became independent – automatically qualifies for a pension, regardless of the length of service.

It said Clause 5 of the bill seeks to amend that section by introducing the requirement that a person must serve as prime minister for at least one year from the date of appointment in order to be eligible to receive a pension.

The legislation also introduces a tiered pension calculation that a former prime minister is entitled to receive, repealing the automatic full entitlement and replacing it with a system where the pension will be calculated based on the length of service, according to the following tiered structure:

According to the legislation, the former prime minister will now receive one-third of the pension if he or she serves in the post for not less than one year; one half, if the holder serves for not less than two years; increasing to two-thirds, if the service is not less than three years; and full amount if the former prime minister serves no less than four years.

Last week, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, Young wrote that “the bill’s retroactive application to March 10, 2025 is constitutionally illegal as it is ad hominem’ (a law that targets a specific individual)”.

“I will not support any ad hominem legislation and the abuse of the constitution,” the senior counsel said, adding that “as a matter of principle, it is my view that I should not participate in or be present for the parliamentary debate of this bill”.