The Sen­ate is due to re­con­vene to­day but is yet to re­ceive any in­di­ca­tion on whether Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has ac­cept­ed the res­ig­na­tion of Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates, some 11 days af­ter she ten­dered it.

John-Bates de­clined to com­ment, while re­peat­ed at­tempts to ob­tain a re­sponse from Beck­les went unan­swered yes­ter­day.

The pro­longed si­lence has in­ten­si­fied scruti­ny over the han­dling of the mat­ter, with for­mer House speak­er Baren­dra Sinanan warn­ing that changes to par­lia­men­tary stand­ing or­ders can­not ad­dress what he de­scribes as a deep­er ero­sion of ethics and ac­count­abil­i­ty with­in T&T’s Par­lia­ment.