MSJ: PM must part ways with Moses

The Prime Minister must revoke the appointment of Dennis Moses as Minister of Foreign Affairs says the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ).

The party renewed a call they had made earlier in March when it was first reported that this country had taken a vote against a plea from Dominica for two-year waiver of its Organisation of American States (OAS) fee.

There was some confusion as to who was at fault for a vote, which the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley noted was a contradiction to TT's position on Dominica, which was recovering from a national disaster.

Following reports about TT's position at the OAS meeting, Rowley appointed former Ambassador Christopher Thomas to investigate the fiasco.

In a press release today, the MSJ recalled its original position that Moses' appointment be terminated.

"This call for Minister Moses to be fired was made in the immediate aftermath of the Dominica vote fiasco at the Organisation of American States. Instead of accepting responsibility for the mess up, Minister Moses tried to shift blame to our Ambassador to the OAS, by issuing a media statement accusing an unnamed “public official” of getting the instructions (on how to vote) wrong. The Prime Minister himself, made a public statement offering some facts that suggested it was the Permanent Secretary who erred and not the Minister. Indeed, Dr Rowley publicly stated that the Minister had complained about public servants who were undermining him," the MSJ stated.

The MSJ said Dr Rowley has himself "passed the buck and instead of taking decisive action to remove Dennis Moses as Minister of Foreign Affairs, has sent the Thomas Report to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on Foreign Affairs."

The release said the MSJ viewed this decision by Dr Rowley as pointless.

"If Minister Moses messed up – as he clearly did – thus embarrassing this country in an international forum, then it is not for the Parliament to sanction the Minister. It is for the Prime Minister to do so. The MSJ in our statement of March 31, also pointed to other publicly known instances of the failure of our country’s foreign relations. There may well be others that are not in the public domain. Former Ambassador and highly respected former Head of the Public Service, Mr Reginald Dumas has publicly commented that he has heard of other failures in our foreign affairs. The Political Leader of the MSJ has also received similar information."

The release said anything less than Moses' termination would signal "a dereliction of responsibility by Dr Rowley, which then puts the Prime Minister’s judgement in serious doubt."