By Sue-Ann Wayow

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says her Cabinet meetings will be taking place not just in Port of Spain but throughout Trinidad and Tobago where needed and suggested even virtually.

She also said the previous administration held 298 virtual Cabinet meetings and even out of the Covid-19 period.

Persad-Bissessar was addressing concerns raised about where she will work from during her first post Cabinet media briefing as Prime Minister on Thursday.

She thanked persons for their concern but also said they need not be worried.

Persad-Bissessar said, “I want to assure you that I will be working out of facilities in Port of Spain, I will  be working out of facilities at central Trinidad. When we were last in government, we established a Cabinet room in central.”

That was established at what is now the headquarters for the Ministry of Agriculture.

“I will be working out of south Trinidad because that is where we also established a Cabinet room upstairs of the Teaching Hospital.”

She said she was told the Cabinet room at the central location was “in good order” and she has asked her Minister of Health Dr Lackram Bodoe to enquire about the usability of the one at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital.

“And I will be operating out of Tobago. I am told there is a beautiful facility in the island of Tobago… Most definitely I will work out of my own home. I do not receive a housing allowance so I do not have to pay myself to use my own home,” Persad-Bissessar said.

She said, “We have north, we have central, we have south, we have Tobago  and there may be others. Whichever one that is necessary and more convenient at that time. We choose that one.”

Persad-Bissessar said the  various places for Cabinet meetings meant sharing her governance with a wide cross section of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

She said she asked the Cabinet Secretariat about where Cabinet meetings were held under the previous administrations

“For the period 2020 to 2025, a total of 298 Cabinet meetings were held virtually,” Persad-Bissessar revealed.

She said nothing was entirely wrong with virtual meetings as that was how many large organisations conducted their meetings.

Persad-Bissessar further said she will seek advise as to the repairs to be undertaken at both Whitehall and the Diplomatic Centre.

“In the interim, everybody was worried about where I will sit. I have many seats and places that I conduct business from.”