Dr. Rowley Lack of Priority
I read with great interest the announcement that the United States Vice President Joe Biden will visit Trinidad at the end of the month to hold talks with the Prime Minister on collaborating with the US on a number of areas.
It is disappointing, however, that the Leader of the Opposition Dr Keith Rowley only recently chastised the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for her absence in parliament during the private motion filed against her failure to act expeditiously on matters concerning Jack Warmer. It seemed Dr Rowley believed that his private motion in parliament was more important than the PM’s official state visits.
Can Dr Rowley indicate why he believed the PM should have stayed home to participate in the debate which was easily defeated by government? This is the same Dr Rowley who called the Prime Minister weak for not traveling to Barbados on official state business to hold talks with the Former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
In addition, can Dr Rowley indicate very clearly which is more important traveling to build diplomatic relations or staying home to deal with frivolous matters. One cannot have it both ways Dr Rowley.
Dr Rowley has made it a policy in his thrust to gain cheap political points to state continuously that T&T’s international image and reputation was being eroded. He has also utilized incidents such as Section 34, the US Attorney General visit to Trinidad and the US President’s failure to appoint an Ambassador to Trinidad as reasons to suggest weakening of the diplomatic relations between our countries.
This visit is truly record breaking and illustrates the strengthening of diplomatic relations with the US government. It shows how important strong relations with Trinidad is to the US for the Vice President to personally visit. More importantly, it occurred with out the need to host two international summits at a cost of hundreds of millions to taxpayers.
Deanna Rampersad
Chaguanas