Always Crying Wolf
The Editor,
Speaking at the PNM’s 45th annual convention on Sunday, Opposition Leader Dr Rowley accused the Government of shutting down Parliament in favour of a multi-million “annoying advertising campaign of self-praise”. According to Dr Rowley, “the Government has abandoned the Parliament and is seeking to brainwash the population by a landslide of annoying advertisements in the media”. The Prime Minister has responded stating that it was always the intention of her Government to reconvene Parliament in November.
Yet again, it appears that Dr Rowley has tried to no avail in bringing the PP Government into disrepute. This recent comment by the Opposition Leader alleges that the Government has shut down the Parliament, and that the Government has collapsed. May I remind the goodly Opposition Leader that under the PNM administration in 2001, following the decision by then President to break the election tie in favour of the PNM, that they failed to convene Parliament for nine months. They proceeded to govern without any accountability or legislature. This allowed the PNM to abuse the constitution because having not convened Parliament meant that a fresh General election had to be called.
In our democratic system, it is critical that the Opposition function effectively as a check and balance towards good governance. It is indeed unfortunate that this Opposition seems to have dropped the ball yet again and has opted to cry wolf.
Peter Thomas
via email