By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley is being called upon to list all the times that Government ministers Faris Al-Rawi and Stuart Young recused themselves from Cabinet.
The recusals are due to some affiliation to persons or companies mentioned in Cabinet notes.
The call came from Member of Parliament for Couva North Rudranath Indarsingh.
He was speaking on Monday night at the United National Congress (UNC) virtual meeting.
The UNC has been repeatedly stating the number of times, those ministers recused themselves from Cabinet, a topic that was hot during the general election 2020.
And Dr Rowley has said on more than one occasion that recusals were a normal procedure of Cabinet.
Recently, while speaking in Chaguanas, he sought to explain how and why a recusal is done.
In new updated information provided by the Cabinet Secretariat, Young has recused himself from Cabinet deliberations 98 times while Al-Rawi has recused himself 58 times since becoming minister in 2015.
Indarsingh also asked for information regarding the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC) formed in 2016. Cabinet had agreed that NTAC will be made up of 19 members: six each from the private sector and the Labour Movement, six from the Government and one from the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
“They operate in secrecy. They operate in silence. But they are deadly in terms of their focus and destroying the people of this country,” he said.
The former labour leader said Dr Rowley has broken all good relationships with unions who form the backbone of companies and organisations resulting in over 150,000 persons losing their jobs.
“You treated the union labour movement with scorn and disdain,” Indarsingh told Dr Rowley.
He further challenged Dr Rowley “to put on the agenda of NTAC” the state and future of the Cabinet-appointed committee into the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Lake Asphalt and the National Insurance fund.
Indarsingh also asked about the reviewing of labour legislation in Trinidad and Tobago especially as it relates to the Retrenchment and Severance Act.
And the MP also criticised Housing Minister Camille Robinson-Regis for coming down on tenants who have not paid their rent to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) saying it seemed as though Government was also owing huge bills.
He said citizens were struggling to eat under the leadership of the Government, much less pay their rents.
Indarsingh said, “Rowleynomics is killing the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
