Gail Alexan­der

Out­go­ing Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment who are be­ing re­placed may at­tend, if they so wish, to­day's in­au­gu­ra­tion of the new par­lia­men­tary term-but on­ly as guests. In the ac­cus­tomed tra­di­tion for to­day's cer­e­mo­ni­al open­ing of the Sec­ond Par­lia­men­tary ses­sion, the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and Sen­ate will con­vene in sep­a­rate lo­ca­tions. Both Up­per and Low­er Hous­es will then come to­geth­er in the low­er cham­ber for the open­ing ses­sion ad­dress­es by Pres­i­dent George Maxwell Richards. The Prime Min­is­ter is al­so ex­pect­ed to ad­dress the House.

Fol­low­ing the in­duc­tion of new mem­bers at Knowsley, sen­a­tors in­clud­ing Ver­na St Rose Greaves and De­vant Ma­haraj are ex­pect­ed to be sworn in by Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Tim­o­thy Hamel Smith ahead of the Sen­ate's first de­lib­er­a­tions. The biggest changes in the Gov­ern­ment team are in the Sen­ate. Chops have al­so been made to the port­fo­lios of some House MPs. Yes­ter­day Par­lia­ment of­fi­cials said those mem­bers who have been re­placed-par­tic­u­lar­ly in the Sen­ate-will not be in the Sen­ate ac­com­mo­da­tion once their ap­point­ments have been re­voked. How­ev­er, they can form part of the au­di­ence in the VIP gallery, they added.

"In a sit­u­a­tion like this some arrange­ments can be made for out­go­ing mem­bers to still be present in the view­ing au­di­ence," a Par­lia­ment of­fi­cial said. "Sen­a­tors and MPs would have been sum­moned to at­tend the Sen­ate and House by is­sue of the Or­der Pa­per to them re­cent­ly. But once an ap­point­ment is re­voked, they may not sit in the Sen­ate when that body meets," they added. The Par­lia­ment will re­lo­cate to the Wa­ter­front Com­plex be­tween Ju­ly and Au­gust to fa­cil­i­tate re­pair work on the Red House.