(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not show up at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting which was attended by all other Cabinet members, including National Security Minister Jack Warner.
The reason for Persad-Bissessar’s absence was not disclosed, but the Express was told that the Reuters report that Warner was a subject of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe, was not discussed.
Yesterday afternoon, the Office of the Prime Minister issued a press release, stating that the weekly post Cabinet press conference would not be held.
The media were hoping for a Government response to the Warner issue during the press conference, where Ministers often respond to questions from the media.
In a telephone interview, Communications Minister Jamal Mohammed said a decision was taken that no news conference be held because there was nothing urgent the public needed to know.
He said, “There was no reason. We normally have the post Cabinet media briefing if we have any urgent issue to inform the public about. Today was a regular Cabinet meeting where several decisions were taken and we just felt that we did not need to have a post Cabinet media briefing today”.
Mohammed said all ministers except the prime minister were there.
“There are notes from various ministries today. We had about 50 or 60 notes, and all of these issues we discussed. Some were decided upon, some were deferred for further discussions and so on. There was an interesting note from the Ministry of Food Production, they want to establish some packing houses throughout the country”.
Contacted by the Express, one minister said nothing urgent was discussed.
Another minister said that the Jack Warner issue was not raised while another said it was. And yet another said it was discussed informally.
