Rowley to Opposition: Stop misleading public about WASA

The Prime Minister has asked Opposition MPs to stop misleading the public with respect to the Water and Sewerage Authority. He said no loans have been taken with international agencies to deal with the company’s restructuring.

Responding to a question from Caroni Central MP Arnold Ram in the Parliament on Friday, Dr Rowley said the MP was “hell-bent” on misleading the public. He said Finance Minister Colm Imbert had already stated publicly that there is no loan arrangement in place with these agencies.

“The document the member is speaking of was laid in Parliament, and I assure you if you look in that document which the government laid, you will see no reference to any loan being referred to. What is said in that document, for the benefit of any person who read it, is that there is a future possibility of funding operations at WASA in its re-organisation with loans that could be had from the CAF or from the IDB," he said.

"This member from Caroni Central has gone out telling people that the action at WASA to re-organise and improve WASA’s performance is as a result of conditionalities that we have made from loans at IDB, nothing is further from the truth.”

“If future and possible is too confusing for the member from Caroni Central, I ask him to stop misrepresenting the facts in this country. It’s a possible source of possible future funding, so there is no loan in place with any conditionalities, and so it is quite wrong to be saying that the government’s attempt to deal with the WASA problem is as a result of any conditionality of any loan we have entered into, the member is confusing the public and I wish he would stop.”

The Prime Minister said Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh had taken ownership of a statement that was untrue.

“He said some international agency, and he named the World Bank, now he’s talking about the IDB and the CAF, as giving the TT government instructions about workers and reorganisation. The government has said publicly that the member’s statement is not true, it’s mischief, and we’re in no such arrangement and we are following no conditionality made to us by any international agency, and as fast as we repeat it, they come out, and I can say no more.”

Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said while the Prime Minister was entitled to his opinion, he ought not to be accusing members of the Opposition of making mischief, which is improper under Standing Order 48:6.