Devant happy to get under Govt's 'skin'

FORMER UNC minister Devant Maharaj, who has been making headlines for sharing the cellphone numbers of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and other Cabinet ministers, says he welcomes any names he is called once he has gotten under the Government’s “skin.”

He was speaking with the media as he and about 30 people gathered opposite Stollmeyer’s Castle, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on Friday evening, as the Prime Minister hosted a cocktail reception. Serpentine Road was blocked off to vehicular traffic by police and a number of senior officers were visible outside the venue. During the protest, a woman in a police T-shirt was taking photos and audio and another woman was recording video.

Maharaj was asked if he felt Cabinet members describing him as a “national nuisance” meant he was getting under the Government’s skin.

He said: “If it is that I point out that there is no procurement process in the selection of Sandals, that there was no procurement process for the Galleons Passage, there is no procurement process for Austal vessels and there is an abandonment of any semblance transparency across the Government, (then) I have gotten under the skin of the Government then I welcome those names. He has called me, the Prime Minister, a low-life and I accept that. Because he is a high-life living in high society inside a castle.”

Asked if it was a UNC protest, Maharaj said it was a mix of people who were upset and hurt about bad governance. He said the attendees at the cocktail reception were eating, drinking and carolling “while the rest of us don’t know where the next meal is coming from.”

“That sort of disconnect is now a hallmark of the Rowley administration. And we want to highlight that in their face because they seem not to be aware of what is going on in their rolled-up Prados, in their air-condition.”

The latest Cabinet member phone number to be revealed by Maharaj was Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and he said he had about 15 numbers still to release.

Michael Kerr, executive member of Stakeholders United Movement, said it was strange government members would find time to “cocktail and carol” when the seabridge has been "totally destroyed" and the tourism sector in Tobago has been "totally eroded" .

“And now we have a man here, who is public enemy number one for the PNM because he was giving out private numbers. And what we find surprising, that in such a yuletide season when everybody should be so much filled with joy, not one call came to the (Prime Minister) complimenting (him) on the work he has done in the three-plus years. So we had to come out. We are going to parang but it is going to be a different song based on the cares of the Petrotrin workers and everybody on the breadline.”

During the protest, one man said, “we want a caring government” and the group sang, “I have no money. I have no money. And is because of Dr Rowley.” The protest began at 7 pm and up to 8 pm remained on the Savannah side as the protesters quickly dissolved into speaking among themselves.

A protester, who asked to only be identified as Juan, said government leaders were not satisfying the needs of the society.

“All we hear is Kamla this, Rowley that. But what about the people? Nothing is really going on for the people.”

Juan said he is angered when he sees children who do not have food to eat or girls who have to sell their bodies because they do not have food to eat.

“You can’t tell me you have people who hold office in this country (and) purporting to be leaders and to meet the needs of the nation and we have all this craziness in this country. Look at the murder rate. It already crossed 500. Where we going as a nation and as a people?”

Juan expressed hope the “well-to-do” attending the event, including Rowley, will have a conscience.

A female protester, who asked not to be named, said she was taking part because there was no sense of direction for the country under Rowley.

“He is running the country and mashing up the country at the same time. And we suffering, we in pain, we in sorrow, we in grief since he came in three years and more. And we not happy, we not happy at all.”

She said she hoped the protest will let Rowley know citizens are fed up and would like him to call elections.