Suruj: PNM heading for defeat too

He predicted the same thing would happen when the PNM returns to the polls in 2020 because the people are “getting angry with the Government.” Rambachan noted Trump’s victory also happened in the year marking the 70th anniversary of adult suffrage in TT. Responding to an earlier contribution by acting Attorney General Stuart Young, Rambachan claimed the Government would not have been able to recover the $256 million Young spoke about if proper contractual arrangements were not left in place by the former People’s Partnership government. “Bolt of lightning,” quipped Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal.

After describing the online tax on goods which enter the country by air freight as discriminatory, Rambachan highlighted what he said was a case where one business in his constituency paid $60,000 in taxes for gaming machines while another paid only $3,000.

Rambachan said he was also alarmed to learn that young children were being encouraged to gamble by machines being advertised in certain places as “for amusement only.” Opposition MPs thumped their desks as Rambachan insisted that the Gaming Bill must be passed. Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Young asked whether the Government could count on the Opposition when the Bill comes to Parliament. Rambachan replied that the matter cut across political lines and the United National Congress is “a responsible Opposition.”