UNC to Rowley: Was the meeting with opposition leader a farce?

The UNC questioned whether Rowley acted in “good faith” during the meeting Persad-Bissessar on the issues of the ongoing imbroglio in the Judiciary and the “failing” health care system.

“The UNC questions who is really in charge of governing the country – is it Keith Rowley or his errant Ministers? The party calls on the prime minister to clarify whether his request to meet with the leader of the opposition was aimed at coming to a consensus, or was it simply a public relations exercise to give the country the impression that he is willing to resolve the issues plaguing the country,” public relations officer Anita Haynes said in a media release yesterday.

Haynes said after the meeting, Rowley said the two leaders did not agree on the way forward on some issues. Persad-Bissessar maintained a tribunal should be appointed to examine the handling of the appointment of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar as a judge.

Haynes explained although Rowley conceded, he agreed there was good reasoning on her part and he would seek further advice on her recommendation to trigger Section 137 of the Constitution to establish a tribunal.

“In spite of the prime minister’s statement, just one day later Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi stated plainly that his intention is to proceed with legislative intervention because, according to him, the necessary amendments to the Summary Courts Act and the Preliminary Inquiries Act do not require a special majority,” the release stated.

Haynes predicted Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh would soon follow suit to contradict the prime minister’s statements on the opening of the controversial Couva Children’s Hospital.

After the meeting, Rowley said there was a lack of encouraging responses to the Government’s private/public partnership idea for the operationalisation of the hospital. This together with unsafe conditions of the central block of the Port of Spain General Hospital now means Government may need to change its position and utilise the 200-plus beds in the Couva Hospital.

“However, at press conference at the Ministry of Health, Deyalsingh sought to undermine the consultative spirit of Tuesday’s meeting and state that plans to reconstruct the block have been set in motion with Cabinet approval for a new 500- bed block,” Haynes stated.

Haynes charged that Deyalsingh went on the criticise the Couva hospital which Rowley had already stated would need to be utilised.

“Dr Rowley needs to tell the country whether or not Al- Rawi and Deyalsingh are acting as free agents or was it always the intention of the Cabinet to pursue a predetermined agenda regardless of the meeting with Mrs Persad-Bissessar? Either the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing, which is a sign of pure incompetence, or the meeting was an act of wilful deceit and the Government had no intention of adopting a more open and democratic governing style.”