Planning Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie yesterday cited "politics" as the reason behind the Opposition not signing off on the Public Procurement report debated in the Senate yesterday.

Tewarie was speaking to the Joint Select Committee appointed to consider and report on the legislative proposals to provide for Public Procurement in the 35th Senate sitting at Tower C, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, yesterday.

"I really don't think that we can go on like this much longer. Quite frankly the country deserves more," Tewarie said.

Tewarie questioned why the Opposition would call for more consultation when they were involved in the decision-making process.

"To not sign now not making any sense, to not vote for it not making any sense. Consultation at this point is not necessary as that is what was done to get us to this point," Tewarie said.

"We have done our work," he added.

Tewarie named and praised the contribution from the Committee members in turn saying that the entire report was completed in just five sessions.

"That could not have been accomplished without commitment from the members," he said.

Tewarie said it was unfortunate that the issues of the day were being hindered by the politics of the day.

"Politics, badly practised, is a policy in Trinidad and Tobago and it is politics that will continue to pollute the process," he said.

Despite the Opposition not accepting the report, it passed by majority vote and was subsequently adopted.

This was the first Senate session for newly sworn in Senator James Lambert, who was yesterday welcomed by Senate members.

Tewarie also took a moment to thank Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah, who helped with the report before resigning as a senator last Sunday.