Rowley: Tunapuna not for sale

THE Prime Minister is claiming the Opposition was trying to “buy” voters in Tunapuna by promising help such as to fix their home and send their children to school. He urged constituents to beware of where such money was coming from.

Speaking on Saturday evening at a PNM rally at the Five Rivers Secondary school in Arouca, Dr Rowley said the Opposition is targeting Tunapuna - a crucial seat in any general election - by setting up an eastern regional office in El Dorado. He warned that funding for “the goodies” promised by the Opposition would come from money stolen while they were in office previously. “I believe the vast majority of people are very decent, law-abiding and will reject the UNC,” Rowley said.

He boasted of his government’s impartiality in selecting officer-holders, selecting the best for the job despite their past political allegiance. He named Police Commissioner Gary Griffith, National Carnival Commission chairman Winston “Gypsy” Peters, the NP chairman and President Paula-Mae Weekes.

“Governing the country is not easy but you have to do it with the country’s interest at heart.” On the Venezuela issue, he said just as the US and China may be in an iron tariff war but still have relations, so too do TT and the US have “very good relations” despite differing views over President Nicolas Maduro. He said TT has no military or navy of international status but was just a small nation seven miles from Venezuela advising parties to be careful. He said he had rejected external calls for TT to set up refugee camps for Venezuelans, explaining, “When you open them, they are very, very difficult to close.”

Also at the rally, Minister of National Security Stuart Young said citizens are nowadays feeling safer than before, a fact he attributed to improving rates of detection and conviction.

He said when a crime occurs, there is now an expectation that the police will detect the perpetrator and that someone will be charged.