Caption: The abandoned Whitehall that housed the Office of the Prime Minister. AZP News/Sue-Ann Wayow
By Alicia Chamely
BETWEEN 2020 and 2025, close to 500 Cabinet and Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GP) meetings of the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government were held online.
The past regime held 498 virtual meetings of the Cabinet and F&GP. During this period, the Cabinet met 298 times, and there were 200 F&GP meetings.
Documents shared with AZP News showed that after Covid regulations were lifted in May 2023, the Cabinet continued to meet virtually.
Between May 11, 2023 and December 21, 2023 there were 33 meetings Cabinet meetings of which 24 were held online. Documents showed that for this same period in 2023, of the 31 F&GP meetings held after regulations had been lifted, 26 were done virtually.
In 2024, 28 of the 66 Cabinet meetings were held virtually and in 2025, two of the 16 Cabinet meetings were also held online.
For the period May 11, 2023 and April 24, 2025, despite there being no restrictions in place, close to half of all Cabinet meetings were held virtually, 54 out of 115 meetings.
In 2024, 19 out of 48 F&GP meetings were held virtually and in 2025, two of the 13 meetings were held virtually.
Out of 92 meetings between May 15, 2023 and April 22, 2025, 47 were held online, just under 50%.
These numbers were provided in response to criticism by the opposition regarding Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s decision to work from home during her first week in government after issues were found at the Office of the Prime Minister at Whitehall and the PM’s residence in St Ann’s.
Persad-Bissessar accused the opposition of scandalising her decision to work from home and revealed that during their last five years in Government, the Opposition held both Cabinet and F&GP meetings virtually rather than in person at Whitehall or the Diplomatic Centre.
Speaking on Thursday at the post-Cabinet press conference, held at the Red House, Port-of-Spain, she said, “For the period 2020 to 2025 a total of 298 Cabinet meetings were held virtually, that is five-and-a-half-years of virtual Cabinet meetings, and a total of 200 F&GP were held virtually for the same time period, that is four years of F&GP virtual meetings.”
Persad-Bissessar said she will continue working from “facilities in Port of Spain, Central, South Trinidad and Tobago and my home as necessary and convenient.”
One government official said, “This is evidence that Cabinet meetings do not necessarily have to be held in person at a fixed venue.”
