Minister of Public Utilities and Leader of Government Business in the Lower House, Barry Padarath, is hailing 2025 as a landmark year for legislation.
Reflecting on the year and looking ahead to 2026, Minister Padarath highlighted key achievements, including the passage of the Home Invasion Act, other major bills, and amendments to legislation such as the Summary Offences Act.
He said the new year will see a major shift towards increased discipline and production in service delivery to the population.
“It can’t be, I heard the Prime Minister say earlier that Trinidad and Tobago and the PNM became lawless. And that is a reality. And you have to ask yourself in 2026, what do you want for your children, and what do you want for your future? Is it that we continue this type of approach where there’s no respect for the rule of law? There is no inculcation of moral and spiritual values anymore in our society. And therefore, those are the sort of things that, when we look at putting in place plans and policy for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, it must be a long-term plan, a long-term policy of where we want to take you.”
Minister Padarath said there needs to be in the new year an adherence to the rule of law and discipline within our society.
“Those will be progressive measures that will redound to the benefit of the lives of people. Yes, people want their potholes fixed. Yes, they want more water in their taps. And these are the things we are committed to. We have been in government for just a short eight months. However, we have been able to deliver in those eight months several critical pieces of legislation that we promised, as well as several critical promises that we will be able to give to the population on the general election campaign trail. And therefore, a lot more is to come. But I agree with the Honourable Prime Minister that a different approach has to be taken. An approach where there is discipline in the society, where there’s respect for the rule of law, and therefore, once we have that ingrained in our nation’s citizens, then it augurs well for the future generations to come, and where we want to see Trinidad and Tobago grow and progress.”