Bharath: Rowley, Roget tag-team a threat to stability
THE tag-team of PNM Leader, Dr Keith Rowley, and Oilfields Workers Trade Union Leader, Mr Ancel Roget, now appears to have made a priority out of threatening the peace and stability of the lives of citizens of Trinidad & Tobago. This according to the Minister of Trade, Industry, Investment and Communication, Vasant Bharath.
In a statement issued Saturday, Minister Bharath condemned actions by Dr Rowley and Mr Roget as having as its primary intention, “the disruption of the peace, progress and stability of the lives of the people of our country.”
The Minister’s statement comes a day after the debate on the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (No.2) Bill, 2014 was completed in the House of Representatives, where the Opposition refused to support the Bill, exposing deep divisions within the party.
The Opposition’s unexplained refusal to support the Bill came despite support for the same Bill by PNM Senators Camille Robinson-Regis, Faris Al-Rawi, Dianne Baldeo-Chadeesingh and Shamfa Cudjoe earlier this year.
The Minister dismissed Dr Rowley and Opposition MPs as being “obstructionist and intent on making a mockery out of integrity”.
The Minister said: “Dr Rowley spoke for an hour in the House and attempted to justify his party’s deliberate attempts to derail procurement legislation. Yet he failed to acknowledge the billions of dollars wasted by his former Government. He failed to explain why he is allowing his weak leadership and the instability of his party to hurt the people. And he failed to give even a hint of a vision for integrity in public life.”
Minister Bharath added: “On the other hand, you have Dr Rowley’s tag-team partner, the OWTU Leader who, in the face of tens of billions of dollars of proven corruption at Petrotrin by the former PNM Government, locks arms with the same party to pretend to fight corruption.”
“What makes matters worse is that despite the strain Petrotrin is operating under, Mr Roget is clearly intent on destroying the company rather than attempting to find a solution that would benefit the company as well as the workers. And Mr Roget goes further to terrorize the public by his stated intention to force the people to make sacrifices for his personal war against the Prime Minister.”
“How can you claim to be championing the rights of workers, when your every action is clearly about plotting against the people and the Government of Trinidad & Tobago?” the Minister questioned, adding “his every public statement is about declaring war on the Prime Minister and threatening instability and disruptions to the lives of citizens.”