(Trinidad Express) THE Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) intends to call on the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to provide observers for the next general election in Trinidad and Tobago, PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley said yesterday at the party’s Sports and Family Day at Nelson Mandela Park in St Clair.
Rowley, who in his address several times demanded that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar call the election date and led the crowd in a chant of “we ready”, said Caricom can expect correspondence from the PNM asking for invigilators.
Rowley had earlier stated that the People’s Partnership has in its five years in office “interfered” with a slew of State institutions but had, so far, not been known to tamper with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC).
Nelson Mandela Park was close to being full yesterday and Rowley spoke for close to an hour as he delivered the feature address, listing what he saw as Government’s failures and criminal conduct in office.
In the early part of his address, Rowley said he had, at the start of the Partnership’s tenure, offered to Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar the support of the Opposition in any policies that would redound to the benefit of the people of the country.
He said he was saddened, five years later, to conclude that the Persad-Bissessar-led Government had not only failed the country in most matters, including on the issue of crime, but that the Government was itself now of interest to the police and “to Golden Grove Prison”.
Rowley also directed some picong towards President Anthony Carmona, whom Rowley said could not constitutionally make certain appointments without consulting the Leader of the Opposition.
Referring to his suspension from the Parliament three weeks ago, Rowley said: “Let me tell the President if he didn’t know, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar has thrown the Opposition Leader out of the Parliament.”
Rowley. who said his suspension was an “abuse” of the Parliament, noted the resignations of two members of the Integrity Commission, including its deputy chairman, retired Justice Sebastien Ventour, over the Emailgate matter and said he expects to see more vacancies pop up in the commission.
Ventour and commission member Dr Shelly-Anne Lalchan resigned after the commission wrote last week to Persad-Bissessar’s attorney, Israel Khan SC, and stated that its investigation into the scandal had been terminated.
Those vacancies in the commission can’t be filled by presidential appointment without the Opposition Leader being consulted, Rowley said.
Any such appointment would be ultra vires the Constitution, he said, adding that he stands ready to be consulted on the appointment of a brand-new Integrity Commission.
Rowley said it was also interesting to note that the letter that left the office of the Prime Minister’s attorney, to call on the commission to terminate the investigation, featured at the top of the letter, in its letterhead, the name of the commission’s chairman (Zainool Hosein).
He said the letter asking for the termination of the investigation is also the person making the decision to end the investigation. He had earlier stated that Persad-Bissessar was “too involved” in the investigation.
Remarking on the fact that his salary as a Member of Parliament was revoked along with his suspension, Rowley drummed up the controversial housing allowance awarded to Carmona, which was criticised last year as being unecessary, and said that allowance was larger than the salary of an MP.
