President Anthony Carmona has appointed four new Independent senators in time for the new session of Parliament which begins tomorrow.They are economist Dhanayshar Mahabir, attorney Anthony Vieira, former National Gas Company board director David Small and attorney Ian Roach.He has revoked the appointments of Prof Harold Ramkissoon, Dr James Kenneth Armstrong, Corinne Baptiste-McKnight and Dr Lennox Bernard, who were appointed by former President George Maxwell Richards.
The Independent senators who have been retained are Helen Drayton, Subhas Ramkhelawan, Dr Rolph Balgobin, Dr Victor Wheeler and Elton Prescott, SC.A release issued by the Government Information Services yesterday said the appointments and revocations would take effect tomorrow. The new senators are, therefore, expected to attend tomorrow's ceremonial opening of the new session of Parliament, where Carmona will address both the House of Representatives and the Senate.Mahabir is an economist with a wealth of experience as an adviser to public and private financial institutions. He was educated at the University of the West Indies, where he earned a BSc, and at McGill University, where he earned an MA and PhD in economics. He served as an Independent senator previously.
Vieira has been a practising lawyer since 1983 in civil, industrial, family and criminal law. He is a graduate of the UWI Faculty of Law, the Hugh Wooding Law School and the Institute of International Relations.Small has more than 23 years' experience in several spheres, focusing on the energy industry in T&T and abroad. He served on boards at NGC and as a non-executive member at Phoenix Park Gas Processors and was a senior adviser in the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs.Roach has been a lawyer for 22 years and has worked in the US, the UK, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast.