Kamla: Rowley’s reshuffle a misdeal – he needs to throw in his cards and start over, or remove himself from the table
Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP, says the Rowley-led Government has failed the people of Trinidad and Tobago and has effectively collapsed; the reshuffle will not improve the quality of life of the people of our country nor ensure their safety and security from criminals.
The Opposition Leader issued the following statement:
On Wednesday, the country heard the heart-breaking cries of Veena Subar, the mother of 13-year-old Videsh Subar, who was brutally murdered while in the care of Rose Mohammed, who was also killed.
I felt this mother’s pain, as I am sure every citizen of this country did, and once again, I condemn the Government for failing to address the scourge of crime in Trinidad and Tobago. When I read the report, I was reminded of the vicious murders of two schoolboys – 17-year-old Denelson Smith, and 16-year-old Mark Richards – who were dragged from a taxi and shot dead while on their way home at Upper Picton Road, Laventille, in January last year. Rowley’s Government did nothing then, and are doing nothing today to stop the crime scourge.
Today, we also received the disturbing news of the kidnapping for ransom of a prominent businessman in South Trinidad. Rowley’s three Ministers of National Security are clueless as to how to address this issue and fulfil the Government’s mandate of ensuring the safety and security of its citizens.
While crime continues to affect all of us, with no action being taken, news came of a “reshuffle” of Rowley’s Cabinet, which has raised concerns. Rowley must explain his re-appointment of Marlene McDonald to his Cabinet, who was the subject of a police investigation over allegations of fraud and misconduct, and a probe by the Integrity Commission. He must tell the country what has changed since his removal of the Member from his Cabinet and now her reinstatement in the Cabinet. Further, the Prime Minister should explain why, for a second time, he has removed MP Hinds from a substantive portfolio.
As the economy continues to collapse, the Prime Minister has again demonstrated that his government has one policy and one policy only: taxation. He has now brought into his government a tax expert from PWC to assist the Minister of Finance.
This reshuffle will do little or nothing to improve the quality of national governance or the lives of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, since the current team of elected PNM representatives is, by far, the most incompetent, inexperienced and ill-suited for office in Trinidad and Tobago’s history.
In 21 months, the Rowley government has exhibited failure on every front: in the mismanagement of the economy; in the failure to provide any solutions to escalating crime; in their absence in times of national need and their indifference to the cries of the people; in their contribution to growing fear, insecurity, lack of confidence and loss of hope in the economy and society by a citizenry that is now overwhelmed by the absence of governance by the Keith Rowley crew.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP