Benefits for Jagdeo, Hinds will be capped under new law – Greenidge

APNU Member of Parliament Carl Greenidge says that former presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Sam Hinds would have their benefits capped once the new President’s Benefits and Other Facilities bill—recently passed by the National Assembly—becomes law.

Greenidge is challenging arguments to the contrary by Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh. Upon the passage of the bill two Fridays ago, government speakers, including Nandlall and Singh, had insisted that the legislation was an exercise in futility, since it would not affect any of the former presidents nor President Donald Ramotar whenever he demits office.

The move to repeal and replace the President’s Bene-fits and Other Facilities Act of 2009 still requires President Ramotar’s assent, which is unlikely, in order to make the new provisions for caps on benefits law.

“The view that the Act seeks to be applicable to the 2009 decision and therefore covers former presidents Jagdeo and Hinds is correct and is eminently appropriate. Although lawyers routinely eschew retroactivity – making new legislation change rules and thereby affect the rights of persons who had operated under the old rules – it is neither a sacrosanct nor God-given principle