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UNC PRO Anita Haynes: Rowley complicit in Smith Cover-up
Posted On 31 Oct 2019
Keith Rowley has once again shown his contempt for the rule of law and has also revealed his stance when it comes to the protection of men who are involved in sexual harassment scandals.
Rowley continues to stand by his former Minister and current member of his PNM bench in Parliament, Daryl Smith, who has been accused of sexual harassment by a former employee in the Ministry. It was the advocacy of the UNC Opposition that galvanized public pressure, which forced Rowley to act in the Smith saga.
UNC Public Relations Officer, Senator Anita Haynes said, “The reports in the press are indeed alarming, and Dr Rowley’s response during the post Cabinet media conference on Thursday 31st October is weak and highlights his poor leadership.”
“The extent to which this administration attempted to weaponize state resources against Ms Moreau is shocking,” she added.
The UNC PRO noted that the primary role of any Government is to protect its citizens, and that includes ensuring a safe working environment. When you read of a letter sent over a year ago by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister to Prime Minister Rowley which speaks of ‘a concerted effort to sanitise the firing exercise of any reference to the allegations of sexual harassment and to treat it as an orthodox claim of unfair dismissal,’ one is left to wonder who is guarding the guards?”
“The committee’s findings, as reported in the press that Ms Moreau made two complaints, ‘that she had been sexually harassed by the former minister and that her reporting of that complaint was the reason for her dismissal[1]’ show the extent of this cover-up by this administration,” she added.
“On the one hand you have to live in fear of being sexually harassed and then you also have to be afraid of being fired for reporting what happened,” Senator Haynes said. “My heart breaks for the injustice that Ms Moreau has faced.”
“This clearly shows a crisis in leadership. Rowley has shown that he will protect the members of his government at the expense of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Rowley administration has failed the people of Trinidad and Tobago, the news of this cover-up has eroded what little confidence anyone had in this regime. Rowley must call the election now as he has failed as a leader.
