PM: No change to election date

THE Prime Minister says there are no plans to postpone the August 10 general election owing to the recent upsurge in covid19 cases. He said “level-headed” decisions are needed at this time, and TT should not respond with panic.

Dr Rowley was responding to questions from the media after a prayer session at the San Fernando Jama Masjid to signify the start of Eid al-Adha on Friday morning. It ends on Monday.

Recently, leader of the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) Phillip Edward Alexander had asked for the election to be postponed. He also wrote to President Paula-Mae Weekes on the issue.

Asked about this, Rowley said, “No, there will be no panic stations in this country; there will be no panic response. From day one, we have had a measured response, a sensible response governed by the science, and that will continue.

“TT doesn’t have that conversation (of postponement). That’s a conversation for outside, we don’t have that conversation. We will continue to live as reasonably as we can while not being overly exposed to it. We are managing risk. We will have our election, there’s no question about that.”

He said while he is not surprised by the new covid19 cases, he believes TT is well prepared.

He added that he had always been warning TT that “we are still in danger,” even when there were no active cases of the virus.

During his feature address during the prayer session, he said he was “very pleased” to see how well precautions are being taken at the place of worship.

“This tells me that we are cognisant that there is danger, and we are responding appropriately.

“Our country is not immune to what is happening to the rest of the world, but we can temper or even evade some of the bad outcomes by these types of responses. And I appeal to you to continue to be cognisant, responsible and to be hopeful that our prayers will be answered.”

He said while he usually visits for Eid-ul-Fitr, it was his first time visiting for Eid al-Adha and that it was a pleasure to have been there.

“I was grateful to have been invited and I was able to accept. The moments were quite uplifting. And one would usually feel rejuvenated after these experiences and I feel that way.”