Former planning minister, Bhoendradatt Tewarie responds to PNM’s Women’s League
The statement issued by the Chairman of the PNM Women’s league and Minister of Planning is childish, misinformed and inaccurate.
I never at any time in any statement said anything to undermine the Office of the Acting President. What I said was that the PNM Government had POLITICIZED the Office of the President and therefore tarnished it.
I also did not personalize the issue having to do with the dismissal of the Governor of the Central Bank I charged the Government with mishandling the situation,exercising executive authority without restraint and interfering with an independent institution while not being truthful to the population on the reasons for the dismissal.
On another note the appointment of Stara Ramlogan as Director of Town and Country Planning has noting to do with the passage of the Planning and Facilitation of Development bill, its assent by the substantive President or its partial proclamation thereafter.
Stara Ramlogan was appointed by the Public Service Commission after due process in the Public Service system where she ranked the highest.Objections to her appointment were initiated by the PNM and their functionaries in order to subvert due process and to terrorize the Public Service Commission.
One of the first acts of the current Government was to promote Stara Ramlogan to Ag Deputy Permanent Secretary in order to ensure that she did not function as director of Town and Country Planning.In this instance her qualifications were not a problem.
The Minister of Planning needs to clear the air on whether a developer and financier of the PNM had any influence on the negative campaign launched against Stara Ramlogan and her subsequent promotion/ removal The Minister of Planning is in the habit of providing false information.
She recently indicated in Parliament that the CDA had given a contract to the son of a Minister for services. When I confronted her – the Speaker did not allow me to pursue the matter. Her information turned out to be false. With this statement in support of the Ag President the PNM Women’s league has further politicized the action of the Acting President and places the citizenry in a situation in which we will have to be vigilant every time the current Acting President acts for the substantive President in the future.
The statement by the Womens League of the PNM simply confirms my view that this Government has succeeded within four months in tarnishing the Presidency