Kamla tells govt come clean on plans to cut jobs

Reading from a Moody’s report dated June 30 and titled “Government of Trinidad and Tobago: Mid-year budget review signals benefits from higher oil prices, but fiscal challenges remain sizeable”, she expressed concern that the country had not been informed about the report.

Persad-Bissessar was addressing a large contingent of flag-waving supporters at the party’s Monday Night Forum meeting at the McBean Hindu primary school, Couva on Monday night.

“I do not believe that anybody in this country is aware of this plan by the government and if they are, come out and tell us. I call on the government to tell me is Moody’s lying? “And when I read this statement, tell me what this is about because 25,000 jobs...it looks as though many thousands and thousands more will lose their jobs,” she said.

She then read a line from the report: “Further pending reductions could materialise during the rest of the year as the government plans to cut three billion dollars from public salaries this year.” Persad-Bissessar asked: “Is this true? Who are you going to fire? Are you going to fire police officers? Defence force officers? Public servants in the Ministry?” In a wide ranging speech, a fiery Persad- Bissessar said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s press conference on Monday to explain his sacking of Marlene McDonald from the post of Public Utilities Minister, (a post which she had only been sworn into last Friday) had reminded her of the words of former prime minister Patrick Manning who had once described Rowley as a “raging bull.” She said Rowley’s statement that the Integrity Commission had “no integrity” showed his ability to “flip flop” whenev- er the situation was against him and cited Rowley’s statement during the “emailgate” scandal saying Rowley had once expressed “full confidence” in the body. “Fast forward to last week, June 29, 2017, ‘The Integrity Commission has cleared Marlene Mc- Donald.’ And then we come to today, July 3, 2017, ‘The Integrity Commission has no integrity.’ Is this man for real?” She said Rowley has given no explanation why he fired McDonald, and when he rehired her, he used the same letter from the Integrity Commission from October last year which he used that to fire her.

“And when he rehired her, he used the same letter from the Integrity Commission.

“When you heard the Prime Minister speak today, it was the voice of a very desperate man to justify his own incompetence, when he knows he has run out of excuses, desperate to blame other people when it is his responsibility,” she said, adding, “We are now facing a deepening crisis of leadership in our country.” And regarding the issue of crime, Persad- Bissessar said while she did not want to “politicise ” the suffering of the victims’ families, told supporters she had been unable to sleep properly since the funeral of murdered schoolboy Videsh Subar. She said the blood of the innocents were on the hands of the ruling party.

“I went to that funeral and Greg (Bissessar) would tell you, I have not been able to sleep peacefully since I went. And that day I had to go to two funerals because our councillor Lezama, his sister had been murdered, stabbed to death just a few days before.

“Why is it that every time that the PNM is in power, murder and kidnapping increase, serious crimes increase, why?”