‘Could you imagine, Digicel, Flow, Green Dot, private companies have to sign a Memoranda of Agreement to the SSA to give information to the SSA for further transmission’ – Dr Roodal Moonilal
By Sue-Ann Wayow
OPPOSITION Member of Parliament Dr Roodal Moonilal is alleging that Government is breaking the law by spying on private citizens.
On Saturday, during Opposition Senator Anil Roberts online show Douglar Politics, Dr Moonilal presented what he said was a Cabinet note from 2018 and challenged the Government and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to state if it was fake.
The Cabinet Minute No. 1971 of November 16, 2018, is titled, “Establishment of Memoranda of Agreement (MoA) and Non-Disclosure Agreements among Government Ministries, Statutory Authorities, other Legal Entities and the SSA for the Sharing and Management of Data to the National Operations Fusion Centre.”
Holding up the document, Dr Moonilal said, “This government is breaking the law. This is illegal.”
It stated that Cabinet agreed to the renaming the National Operations Centre as the National Operations Fusion Centre.
It also agreed to the establishment of MoA and non-disclosure agreements “with strict confidentiality provisions” among the entities listed in the note’s title for the sharing and management of data to the Centre.
The list includes various departments of the Ministry of National Security, the Tobago House of Assemble (THA), the Judiciary, public utilities entities and others.
According to Dr Moonilal, there was one interesting one, the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA).
Dr Moonilal claims that Government did not make any public announcement about that particular Cabinet note.
He said, “Imagine you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) that’s the spying agency which is run by persons appointed by Cabinet. They are political appointees. You have to sign an agreement with them, non-disclosure, confidentiality etc, for sharing and managing data to the National Operations Fusion Centre.”
The National Security Council is staffed by politicians, Dr Moonilal said.
He asked, “Could you imagine, Digicel, Flow, Green Dot, private companies have to sign a Memoranda of Agreement to the SSA to give information to the SSA for further transmission.”
Dr Moonilal said the provisions of the Data Protection Act not yet fully proclaimed and enforced would have protected citizens from the sharing of private information. He said that act was passed by the People’s Partnership regime.
He also mentioned the Freedom of Information Act.
“They (SSA) could go to any ministry of government, any division, now the judiciary and collect information and pass it to Rowley and his gang. This has serious repercussions… The Data Protection Act protects citizens where their private information is taken, companies that take it, entities and so on, they are under legal requirements that they cannot share it, that they cannot divulge it. There are consequences for doing that,” Dr Moonilal said.
He called on Government to say how many MoAs or non-disclosure agreements have been signed between the SSA and the listed entities between 2018 to 2022.
Dr Moonilal also said, “We also want the Government to come clean on what information they require.”
If government wanted particular information, they could have instead sourced the information via the courts, he added.
