Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has written to the secretary general of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in the UK and the secretary general of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, calling for an electoral observer mission in T&T during the general election which is constitutionally due no later than September 17.
In the letters, dated May 29, Rowley charged that Government was prepared to take liberties with the rights of citizens and institutions and had clearly demonstrated its reluctance to conduct public affairs and manage public resources in a proper and responsible manner.
“There is incontrovertible evidence that this Government is not prepared to be party to a well-functioning democracy and is instead prepared to engage in any form of misbehavior in order to further its own interests.
“As a consequence, the PNM is of the firm view that the Elections and Boundaries Commission would no doubt benefit from an added layer of protection which would be supplied through the activities of a Caricom electoral observer mission,” Rowley said.
He accused the PP Government of continuously demonstrating a reckless disregard for the principles of good governance and having no respect for the institutions to ensure that citizens were properly served and protected.
“As the general election approaches, this Government has also embarked upon blatant schemes designed to utilise state resources to induce, relocate and/or instil fear in voters, in a concerted effort to better its own chances at the polls.
“The PNM is therefore deeply concerned that proper monitoring is required for the 2015 general election to ensure that the entire process is conducted freely and fairly,” Rowley said.
In giving his account of the Government’s performance over the last five years the Opposition Leader also outlined reasons for the mission to be present, including the termination or refusal to renew the contracts of the vast majority of people employed by the PNM administration on contract.
Rowley also alleged that in January 2011, Government appointed a technical operator with strong links to senior government officials, over several other senior and unquestionably better qualified individuals, to the position of director of the Strategic Intelligence Agency to head one of T&T’s security intelligence agency.
He said that appointment, along with the termination of many highly qualified and long-serving members of the intelligence agency, came after correspondence was sent to the Prime Minister by a senior police officer merely alleging without any evidence that certain persons had allegiances to the PNM.
The limited state of emergency declared on August 2011, which lasted for approximately four months, was also mentioned in the letter.
“In November 2011, the Police Service arrested several members of the Muslim faith on the basis that there was a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister and other senior Government officials.
“To date, despite the arrests, no evidence to support this purported plot has been disclosed, and no charges have been laid with respect to the citizens who were arrested,” Rowley wrote.
The Miscellaneous Provisions (Defence and Police Complaints) Bill 2013 was also criticised as Rowley said the Government attempted in March 2013 to pass it so as to give police powers to the Defence Force, without the necessary countervailing protection provisions which governed the Police Service.
The Section 34 matter was also highlighted in the letter as Rowley said it all but guaranteed the freedom of two known financiers of the UNC who were before the court for several offences, including money laundering.
Other issues
Rowley said Government, without any public consultation, and a mere month before the Local Government elections of October 2013, amended the Municipal Corporations Act to introduce the system of proportional representation into the local government electoral system for the election of aldermen.
“This Government, again without any public consultation, attempted to introduce midway through the campaign for the Tobago House of Assembly elections, the Constitutional (Amendment) (Tobago) Bill 2012, to provide for internal self-government for Tobago.
“In the 2013 St Joseph by-election, this Government’s candidate for that seat, with the open support of this Government, campaigned by taking personal credit for the issuance of certificates of comfort with respect to State-owned lands in the constituency, as well as the commencement of several infrastructural projects, also in the constituency, all of which occurred just prior to that by-election,” Rowley wrote.
He said that once again without public consultation, and in the face of a commission set up to discuss amendments to the Constitution which made no such recommendation, Government proposed an amendment to the Constitution to provide for a run-off election where no individual candidate had received 50 per cent of the vote.
He also detailed his suspension from the House last month.
The Opposition Leader also criticised Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for making public statements that the infamous Emailgate probe had been completed and no wrong doing was found.
Rowley also mentioned the recent Moody’s Investors Service downgraded, saying it had left a blot on T&T.