Between late September and early October 2026, senior government officials escalated public criticism of Trinidad and Tobago’s Independent Senators and the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) following disagreements over legislation.
After all nine Independent Senators declined to support the Government’s Special Operations Bill, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar publicly attacked members of the Independent Bench, referring to them using terms including “satanic”, “demons” and “scumbags”, and announced that her Government would no longer accept amendments proposed by Independent Senators. LATT subsequently defended the constitutional role of the Independent Bench, called on the Prime Minister to withdraw her remarks, and stressed that democratic governance requires governments to hear and consider views outside the Government bench.
On 29 September, Works and Infrastructure Minister and deputy UNC political leader Jearlean John responded by accusing LATT of attempting to curtail the Prime Minister’s freedom of expression. She described the Association’s intervention as “feeble”, branded LATT “elitist”, questioned its record of speaking out under the previous administration, and defended the Government’s strong language towards the Independent Senators.
The confrontation continued on 7 October, when the Prime Minister again referred to the President-appointed Independent Senators as “scumbags” after several voted against legislation raising age limits for alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and gambling.
Taken together, these developments demonstrate an escalating pattern in which independent institutional scrutiny and civil-society criticism of Government decisions are met with personalised attacks and efforts to discredit the actors raising those concerns.