The Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent has con­firmed that nine In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors have been ap­point­ed to serve in Par­lia­ment, by the Pres­i­dent.

An of­fi­cial state­ment from the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent notes that “Her Ex­cel­len­cy Paula-Mae Weekes O.R.T.T., Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go on Wednes­day Au­gust 19 2020, ap­point­ed the 9 In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors. The 16 Gov­ern­ment Sen­a­tors se­lect­ed by the Prime Min­is­ter have al­so been ap­point­ed.”

Ac­cord­ing to the re­lease, at­tor­ney-at-law Sophia Chote S.C. was not re-ap­point­ed an In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tor, as she was un­avail­able for con­sid­er­a­tion. She has been re­placed by Evans Welch, at­tor­ney-at-law. All oth­er ap­pointees are the same as those who served in the 11th Par­lia­ment.

The nine In­de­pen­dent Sen­a­tors ap­point­ed to serve in the 12th Par­lia­ment are: Evans Welch, Paul Richards, Dr Var­ma Deyals­ingh, An­tho­ny D. Vieira, Am­ri­ta De­onar­ine, Hazel Thomp­son-Ahye, Char­rise Seep­er­sad, Maria Dil­lon-Re­my and De­oroop Teemal.