WHEN the prime minister is attacked by the opposition for inaction after receiving a Special Branch report dated July 2019 his reaction always comes straight out of his political playbook 101.
Deflect and say the opposition has committed more allegedly heinous crimes in their time than your government. So don’t look at me, look at them!
Rowley responded again in this manner when calls came from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial to take action against Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings, on the basis of information contained in the Special Branch report. The report was done when Cummings was a government senator without any portfolio.
Speaking at the news conference, the prime minister said a Special Branch report was an intelligence document, not grounded in any evidence, and required further investigation to see whether the contents were “accurate and factual” or based on hearsay.
This is amazing as previously just by hearsay he himself brought allegations of emails to Parliament when he was in the opposition seat and accused the then prime minister of all sorts of outrageous crimes. The allegations were that former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, former local government minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and former special adviser to the prime minister, the previous police commissioner, Gary Griffith criminally conspired to free Piarco Airport fraud accused Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson and to prevent their extradition to the US; intimidate members of the print media; the then government spied on the Office of the DPP; and tried to remove the DPP from office.
All allegations were investigated and eventually came to the conclusion that none of these things occurred nor were the emails even real emails. A whole big hullabaloo for nothing.
I believe now that Dr Rowley is in office and the shoe is on the other foot, the accusation that has been brought to the public just caused another outburst that the opposition is worse than them and if he brought into the public domain the police flies on the opposition that “would cause big bacchanal.”
Yet he’s deflecting and not answering why the report on Cummings is now coming to light only after the opposition highlighted its existence. Why he hasn’t acted in the interest of the people and why he always throws aspersions on the opposition instead of doing the right thing and dealing with his own issues within his own government.
What we really want are better responses to these accusations or attacks, and to get answers in the public interest instead we get antics that never start to deal with the real issues delivered in his own growingly angering style.
We ask that the PM stop doing this and pointing the finger at the opposition, just come clean, answer the questions, and deal with the issues in the interest of the public.
Don’t go on the defensive, blame the opposition, don’t let the adrenaline slip into your bloodstream and rant and rave and point fingers elsewhere. Take a deep breath and reinterpret the attack, not as a threat to your government and your capabilities but as questions that needs to be answered in the public interest.
We are tired of the antics and the deflections and the accusations of the opposition now.
We have become frustrated of hearing the same thing over and over again and always attacking the opposition for doing their jobs!
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the Electoral College on October 21. Photo: T&T Parliament
These games have gone on for seven years now and it’s run its course. We get it, you hate the opposition leader, you’ve judged the opposition members as bad and wrong and deserving of a good tongue lashing but this doesn’t help us with the answers.
This doesn’t help us with your incompetent cabinet and this doesn’t give us confidence in your ability as a prime minister.
Prime minister, you continue down this road however you never take time nor care to sort out the facts, thoughtfully listen to the questions and give the media a chance to do their jobs.
Please in the future allow the anger to subside and thoughtfully share your views, then maybe you will be finally ready to engage in honest dialogue. I know this process takes time and patience and maybe you are just out of patience with your citizens.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited
Always Blaming the Opposition
WHEN the prime minister is attacked by the opposition for inaction after receiving a Special Branch report dated July 2019 his reaction always comes straight out of his political playbook 101.
Deflect and say the opposition has committed more allegedly heinous crimes in their time than your government. So don’t look at me, look at them!
Rowley responded again in this manner when calls came from Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Opposition Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial to take action against Minister of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings, on the basis of information contained in the Special Branch report. The report was done when Cummings was a government senator without any portfolio.
Speaking at the news conference, the prime minister said a Special Branch report was an intelligence document, not grounded in any evidence, and required further investigation to see whether the contents were “accurate and factual” or based on hearsay.
This is amazing as previously just by hearsay he himself brought allegations of emails to Parliament when he was in the opposition seat and accused the then prime minister of all sorts of outrageous crimes. The allegations were that former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, former local government minister Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal and former special adviser to the prime minister, the previous police commissioner, Gary Griffith criminally conspired to free Piarco Airport fraud accused Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson and to prevent their extradition to the US; intimidate members of the print media; the then government spied on the Office of the DPP; and tried to remove the DPP from office.
All allegations were investigated and eventually came to the conclusion that none of these things occurred nor were the emails even real emails. A whole big hullabaloo for nothing.
I believe now that Dr Rowley is in office and the shoe is on the other foot, the accusation that has been brought to the public just caused another outburst that the opposition is worse than them and if he brought into the public domain the police flies on the opposition that “would cause big bacchanal.”
Yet he’s deflecting and not answering why the report on Cummings is now coming to light only after the opposition highlighted its existence. Why he hasn’t acted in the interest of the people and why he always throws aspersions on the opposition instead of doing the right thing and dealing with his own issues within his own government.
What we really want are better responses to these accusations or attacks, and to get answers in the public interest instead we get antics that never start to deal with the real issues delivered in his own growingly angering style.
We ask that the PM stop doing this and pointing the finger at the opposition, just come clean, answer the questions, and deal with the issues in the interest of the public.
Don’t go on the defensive, blame the opposition, don’t let the adrenaline slip into your bloodstream and rant and rave and point fingers elsewhere. Take a deep breath and reinterpret the attack, not as a threat to your government and your capabilities but as questions that needs to be answered in the public interest.
We are tired of the antics and the deflections and the accusations of the opposition now.
We have become frustrated of hearing the same thing over and over again and always attacking the opposition for doing their jobs!
These games have gone on for seven years now and it’s run its course. We get it, you hate the opposition leader, you’ve judged the opposition members as bad and wrong and deserving of a good tongue lashing but this doesn’t help us with the answers.
This doesn’t help us with your incompetent cabinet and this doesn’t give us confidence in your ability as a prime minister.
Prime minister, you continue down this road however you never take time nor care to sort out the facts, thoughtfully listen to the questions and give the media a chance to do their jobs.
Please in the future allow the anger to subside and thoughtfully share your views, then maybe you will be finally ready to engage in honest dialogue. I know this process takes time and patience and maybe you are just out of patience with your citizens.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited