WHEN a Government can breach the constitutional rights of an ordinary citizen we have become a dictatorship.
Minister of Finance Colm Imbert in the Dr Rowley’s led Government went against what is fair and unbiased in his oath in his installment as a minister to be independent and impartial, to carry out his duties without fear or favour.
He went against all that is right to ensure that the Governor of the Central Bank was removed from his post. It was a direct attack on Jwala Rambarran, it was an unfair and unjustified termination of his appointment as governor.
This is a breach of Mr Rambarran constitutional rights and the landmark judgment received in his favor clearly showed this that came in last week. Justice Devindra Rampersad ruled Rambarran’s termination as governor was in breach of the Constitution and has ordered that the former governor be paid his salary from the date of his dismissal to July 16, 2017, when his term in office would have come to an end if he had not been fired. The judge also ordered damages to be paid to Mr Rambarran.
The Constitution was broken and therefore the opposition has now called on Imbert to step down from his post. You cannot have a sitting minister in the current administration breaking the law by overstepping and ignoring the rights of an ordinary citizen in his personal vendetta to remove a Governor from his office.
The independence and integrity of the Central Bank has been compromised. This office should not have this type of political interference and Mr Imbert should now do the honorable thing and come down from there. Just because of his biased partisan ways and bitterness he should not be considered fit to represent the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago anymore.
When persons are elevated to these positions of power, they need to remove their party hats and defend the constitution, be fair and just in their decisions to protect the institutions they represent from political interference.
They cannot use expediency and their own influence of their office to unfairly remove someone who was clearly doing his job to ensure that there was transparency and public accountability in the allocation of the resources, especially the foreign exchange in this country. In our courts, imagine the judge came out openly to be even more critical of a sitting minister. It seemed to the court that the minister had already obtained legal opinions from three out of four people to find a way to terminate the governor’s appointment. A clear premeditated action to remove Rambarran from his job.
The judge actually stated there are concerns of the failure to “properly lay the government’s hand on the table as is prescribed in public law matters.” This clearly shows how vindictive the minister was in his move to oust Rambarran. The Constitution contains the most important human right rules of our political system. It was designed to protect the rights of the people of Trinidad and Tobago and it explains their obligations under these rules.
How can this happen in front of everyone’s eyes and we continue to see this minister in parliament implement harsh policies that affect every citizen of this country every day? Food prices, educational bills, rent, utilities, fuel prices, no foreign exchange equity or transparency and unemployment affects us all, every citizen’s livelihood and this man who is acting prime minister at the moment continues to implement harsh policies without compassion or thought of the average citizen.
When common decency and the protection of the average citizen go out the window and you believe you are above everyone else, untouchable and able to dictate who exactly should work in the Central Bank or other government positions without regard for the office you hold, you no longer should be in that position.
When you can breach someone’s constitutional rights without care of conduct, you no longer have the right to be a Minister and serve the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Therefore Minister, do the right thing and come down from there. Step down, as you have breached the very oath you took to be a Minister for all the citizens of our beloved country.
Neil Gosine is the treasurer of the UNC. He was a former Chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration MBA , BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
Come Down From There, Mr Imbert
WHEN a Government can breach the constitutional rights of an ordinary citizen we have become a dictatorship.
Minister of Finance Colm Imbert in the Dr Rowley’s led Government went against what is fair and unbiased in his oath in his installment as a minister to be independent and impartial, to carry out his duties without fear or favour.
He went against all that is right to ensure that the Governor of the Central Bank was removed from his post. It was a direct attack on Jwala Rambarran, it was an unfair and unjustified termination of his appointment as governor.
This is a breach of Mr Rambarran constitutional rights and the landmark judgment received in his favor clearly showed this that came in last week. Justice Devindra Rampersad ruled Rambarran’s termination as governor was in breach of the Constitution and has ordered that the former governor be paid his salary from the date of his dismissal to July 16, 2017, when his term in office would have come to an end if he had not been fired. The judge also ordered damages to be paid to Mr Rambarran.
The Constitution was broken and therefore the opposition has now called on Imbert to step down from his post. You cannot have a sitting minister in the current administration breaking the law by overstepping and ignoring the rights of an ordinary citizen in his personal vendetta to remove a Governor from his office.
The independence and integrity of the Central Bank has been compromised. This office should not have this type of political interference and Mr Imbert should now do the honorable thing and come down from there. Just because of his biased partisan ways and bitterness he should not be considered fit to represent the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago anymore.
When persons are elevated to these positions of power, they need to remove their party hats and defend the constitution, be fair and just in their decisions to protect the institutions they represent from political interference.
They cannot use expediency and their own influence of their office to unfairly remove someone who was clearly doing his job to ensure that there was transparency and public accountability in the allocation of the resources, especially the foreign exchange in this country. In our courts, imagine the judge came out openly to be even more critical of a sitting minister. It seemed to the court that the minister had already obtained legal opinions from three out of four people to find a way to terminate the governor’s appointment. A clear premeditated action to remove Rambarran from his job.
The judge actually stated there are concerns of the failure to “properly lay the government’s hand on the table as is prescribed in public law matters.” This clearly shows how vindictive the minister was in his move to oust Rambarran. The Constitution contains the most important human right rules of our political system. It was designed to protect the rights of the people of Trinidad and Tobago and it explains their obligations under these rules.
How can this happen in front of everyone’s eyes and we continue to see this minister in parliament implement harsh policies that affect every citizen of this country every day? Food prices, educational bills, rent, utilities, fuel prices, no foreign exchange equity or transparency and unemployment affects us all, every citizen’s livelihood and this man who is acting prime minister at the moment continues to implement harsh policies without compassion or thought of the average citizen.
When common decency and the protection of the average citizen go out the window and you believe you are above everyone else, untouchable and able to dictate who exactly should work in the Central Bank or other government positions without regard for the office you hold, you no longer should be in that position.
When you can breach someone’s constitutional rights without care of conduct, you no longer have the right to be a Minister and serve the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Therefore Minister, do the right thing and come down from there. Step down, as you have breached the very oath you took to be a Minister for all the citizens of our beloved country.
Neil Gosine is the treasurer of the UNC. He was a former Chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration MBA , BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.