Rowley defends EBC

THE Prime Minister has said the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is so well regarded that it has often helped Commonwealth countries run their elections, as he defended the EBC against Opposition claims of facilitating a Venezuelan who was found with a fake TT ID card.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, on Monday, at a political meeting at Moruga, urged the police to probe the EBC for alleged “corrupt and fraudulent activities” aimed at voter-padding using Venezuelans, but Dr Rowley rejected her charges as outrageous.

At a People’s National Movement (PNM) meeting on Tuesday at Barataria South Secondary School, he flatly asked supporters whether they believed the opposition leader or the EBC. The crowd roared, “The EBC!”

On the Venezuelan with a fake ID, Rowley said it was actually no surprise that people were trying to get hold of TT identification documents, as these were very valuable, noting complaints of immigrants trying to fraudulently get birth certificates from the Registrar General’s Office.

Scoffing at Opposition spokesmen saying the Venezuelan’s fake ID must have come from the EBC as it looked so real, Rowley scoffed, "Well, idiot, the reason counterfeit does work is because it has to look like the thing."

He said the EBC had said it had no record of the Venezuelan, yet Persad-Bissessar was "calling damnation and brimstone on the head of every employee at the EBC."