Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliament

With election fever in the air there has been a lot of talk about the Prime Minister proroguing Parliament. At this time I would invite all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to familiarise themselves with the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is truly an interesting document and is the foundation of our society. When we do not know something for ourselves it is so easy for us to be fed lies and wrong information. We are currently in the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Sections 67, 68 and 69 of the constitution outline the prorogation and dissolution of Parliament. A session of parliament is simply the yearly intervals between general elections. There can be up to five sessions, of which sessions one to four have to be prorogued with the fifth session being dissolved for general elections to be held. Parliament can be dissolved at anytime but it cannot go beyond five years to the date of its first sitting. Additionally the Prime Minister cannot dissolve Parliament, it is actually the President who dissolves parliament on the advice of the Prime Minister. Simply put prorogue is the term used between sessions and dissolved is the term used between elections. Therefore the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago essentially means that we are in the third year since the last election and there have been nine general elections since Republican constitution was enacted in 1976. I just thought I would clarify some of the nonsense that has been printed in the daily news papers recently.