Time to move on

McDonald was reappointed to Cabinet after she first was removed in 2016 by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley over several allegations against her. McDonald was investigated by the Integrity Commission and a separate investigation is currently underway by the Fraud Squad.

Speaking after she was sworn in yesterday by President Anthony Carmona at the Office of the President, St Ann’s, McDonald said she has always made herself available.

“I was out of the Cabinet since March 17, 2016, I have made myself available to all the investigating bodies for 15 months.

“I hid nowhere, as a matter of fact last year August I went on vacation in Orlando and before I left I contacted the Integrity Commission.

I was very clear when I said I am going to be out of the country for ten days, but if at anytime you need to contact me or to speak to me, I am free. My phone will be on roaming, you can contact me and I will come back immediately. It showed that I was willing and still willing to speak to any authority and after 15 months no one has called me.” The minister said she has been visible and accessible for the last 15 months and if no one has called her or questioned her she cannot continue to live in the past. “I have to move on. It’s time to move on. I can only think about going forward,” she said. She said she received two letters from the Integrity Commission one dated December 2013 which she received in January 2014.

She said the Commission found that she did not breach the Public Life Act. In another letter dated March 2015, she was informed by the Commission that they were reopening the investigation. In October 2016, she said the Commission sent her another letter stating that she was not in breach of the Act.

“So am I to live in the past? I want to say to Trinidad and Tobago that there is so much that one can endure.

For fifteen months I sat in the wilderness and I did what I was supposed to do and I maintained my stature, I maintained my dignity and I’m not about to be living in the past, I am going forward. The Prime Minister has reposed in me a lot of confidence to manage the Ministry of Public Utilities and that is what I am about now,” she said. Asked if this issue has caused her mental anguish she said, “not at all.” “If I were not a strong person we could have talked about mental but I’m a strong person. I understand how to grow up tough and from a tough environment and this is what my environment has crafted me to who I am and what I am today and I am proud of it....I am proud to be from East Port of Spain.”