PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -The Trinidad and Tobago government Friday tabled legislation aimed at amending the Prime Minister’s Pension Act, which governs the payment of pensions to people who have served as prime minister and which political observers say is aimed at cutting away the millon dollar (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) pension of former prime minister Stuart Young.
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo, who tabled the Prime Minister’s Pension (Amendment) Bill, 2025, said the legislation has “retroactive” effect from March 10, this year, and requires a special majority “but seeks to address a serious fallacy perpetuated on the good people of Trinidad and Tobago”.
While he insisted that the legislation is not “ ad hominem,” and not directed at any one person, there is no doubt he has targetted Young, who had replaced Dr. Keith Rowley as head of the government, and calling an election for April 28, four months ahead of the second anniversary of the People’s National Movement (PNM) victory at the polls..
“Recently, we witnessed actions in this country that were…undemocratic and which resulted in a prime minister that no one wanted and one which the country subsequently downright fully rejected.”
Tancoo said when Young became prime minister on March 17 this year, his first act was to dissolve the parliament and that the proposed bill is intended to “write the wrong that was thrusted upon the population.
“What I place on the record of Parliament today may sound like a conspiracy theory only because it is so shocking an offence,” the Finance Minister said, adding that it is “highly arguable” that Young “was never eligible to be appointed as prime minister…pursuant to the Constitution.
‘That appointment is most likely unconstitutional, but even if it were constitutional, I believe that the act should be brought in line with regional best practice and our own legislative provisions”.
He told legislators that similar legislation exists in Antigua and Barbuda and The Bahamas.
But former finance minister, Colm Imbert, said that the legislation is aimed at “one person” and that based on a previous Privy Council ruling involving several Trinidad and Tobago actors, “this is ad hominem legislation.
“The members opposite could jump high and could jump low, but the fact of the matter is that there is only one person who could possibly be affected by the retroactive clause, nobody else, no former prime minister other than that single individual that this is targetting can be affected by the legislation.”
Imbert said that the Privy Council, the country’s highest and final court “was very very clear” when it made its ruling in the case involving the Trinidad and Tobago insurance executives and others “that this legislation is specific, if it targets on a plain reading, an ordinary meaning, a single individual or a small group then it is ad hominem”.
He said he has heard the “fall back” argument that the person, which the legislation is aimed at “was not properly appointed as prime minister” and that he is surprised that the government, when in opposition at the time, did not challenge the constitutionality of Young’s appointment “because they were not very sure.
“We are quite sure that the appointment was correct,” said Imbert, who served in the cabinets of both Rowley and Young, and one of the longest serving legislator.
He said it is interesting the current finance minister had made reference to other Caribbean countries with legislation similar to what is being proposed, but decided to omit those from Jamaica and Barbados “where a person could serve as prime minister for five seconds (and) they could be 20 years old and they qualify for a prime minister’s pension.
“There is absolutely no doubt that around the world it differs, and I noticed the Minister of Finance ran away from India, which has the same similar provision, no qualifying period,” he told legislators.
Tancoo told Parliament that the legislation introduces two significant amendments, introducing 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.
He 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, 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.
The debate is continuing.
Meanwhile, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, Young said since entering politics as a temporary opposition senator in March 2014, “I have wanted to make sustainable, impactful and meaningful contributions to Trinidad and Tobago’s growth and development.
“I did not enter politics for personal material benefit,” he said, noting that the legislation being debated in Parliament “specifically targets me as former Prime Minister.
“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 “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.
“Accordingly, I will not attend the parliamentary debate(s) on the bill. I will continue to serve Trinidad and Tobago to the best of my ability and true to the oath that I have taken, without fear or favour, malice or ill will.” (CMC)
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