Trade Minister Vasant Bharath has accused the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of undermining the stability of T&T. In a statement yesterday, Bharath said, “PNM’s political leader Dr Keith Rowley and OWTU’s president general Ancel Roget have made a priority out of threatening the peace and stability of the lives of citizens.”
Condemning both men for “the disruption of the peace, progress and stability” of the country, Bharath accused them of being “obstructionist whose intent was to make a mockery out of integrity.” Bharath also expressed dissatisfaction with the Opposition’s lack of support for the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property (No2) Bill, 2014.
“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,” he said. Bharath added, “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.” Both Roget and Rowley were unavailable for comment yesterday as calls to their cellular phones went unanswered.