PNM, UNC in tit for tat over Tobago bills

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in a press conference at her office on Charles Street, Port of Spain on Wednesday, tears up what she says is a “gutted” version of the Tobago self-governance bill that she claimed could be passed with a simple majority. No amendments have yet been made to any of the Tobago bills. - Photo by Sureash Cholai
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in a press conference at her office on Charles Street, Port of Spain on Wednesday, tears up what she says is a “gutted” version of the Tobago self-governance bill that she claimed could be passed with a simple majority. No amendments have yet been made to any of the Tobago bills. - Photo by Sureash Cholai

THE Prime Minister on Wednesday accused the Opposition Leader of a strategy to "feed dissent in Tobago" and strife with Trinidad, while she accused him of hijacking Parliament to promote a bill to make Tobago a colony of Trinidad.

Dr Rowley and Kamla Persad-Bissessar each held news briefings the day after the Opposition had walked out of the House of Representatives in protest at the PM getting an extra hour to speak on a government motion to Adopt the Report of the JSC on the Constitution (Amendment)(Tobago Self-Government) Bill 2020.

This bill said the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will have 15 members, resolving the six-six tie after the last election for the now-deadlocked THA.

The assembly will become part of a proposed Tobago legislature.

Each leader accused the other of telling untruths in the clash over the bill.

Flanked by MPs at her office, Persad-Bissessar tore up a document which she said was a version of the bill gutted by the Government to become a worthless document. Without its special majority provisions, it could be passed without Opposition support for the Government to impose its will on Tobago, she said.

"It's a brand new bill but with no consultation with Tobago."

Rowley later on said that was not correct but that the bill remained intact before the House in committee, along with the Tobago Island Council Bill introduced on Wednesday.

Persad-Bissessar vowed a motion to censure Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George for the method of extending Rowley's speaking time, but the PM in turn insisted it had been properly done.

The Opposition Leader said she stood in defence of the people of Tobago and of democracy, while the Prime Minister asked "whither goest Tobago" as a stalled bill would stall new THA polls.

Persad-Bissessar alleged Rowley had hijacked the House to try to railroad through a bill that was bad for Tobago and in doing this he had attacked named Tobagonians who were standing up for their rights.

"The rules are not to be made on the hoof vikey-vie," she said. Saying House Leader Camille Robinson-Regis had ceded her time to Rowley to wrap up, Persad-Bissessar said you cannot cede an MP's speaking time. "Madness, nonsense. This is not like a plate of food, 'Here have some bake, some salt fish.'"

She said, "We would be derelict in our duty if we stayed to participate in this railroading and destruction of our democracy."

Persad-Bissessar vowed a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. It seemed Rowley was fearful of any UNC MP speaking after him, she added.

Persad-Bissessar vowed to oppose any bill to make Tobago a colony of Trinidad under "King Rowley."

She said an amended bill would reduce the THA to a local government body, with its bills needing the nod of Cabinet and Parliament.

"They are taking away more powers than they are giving."

Persad-Bissessar said the UNC does not contest Tobago as it was a party grounded in Trinidad, even as the people of Tobago were perfectly capable of fielding candidates.

She accused Rowley of untruths in the House on Tuesday in reading a list of government bills which he claimed the Opposition had not voted for. In contrast she said the Opposition had in fact supported the FATF, Terrorism, Appropriation and Finance Bills. Persad-Bissessar said that in the bill the Government had been seeking money to campaign in any upcoming THA polls.

"They think they are spiting the UNC. Who is spited are the people of Tobago."

Rowley at the Red House told reporters Persad-Bissessar was "downright irresponsible" to talk of gutted bills and of Tobago becoming a colony.

Dr Keith Rowley -

He said the bill was intact in committee stage of the House without amendment and he hoped it could be saved for a sitting after the parliamentary recess to facilitate fresh THA polls. He said the Speaker had looked at the Opposition bench and seen no-one else wishing to talk, so he had risen.

Rejecting any notion of taking Robinson-Regis' speaking time, Rowley said he had spoken as Diego Martin West MP and had got an extension as voted for by MPs after the Speaker properly put the question. "I don't know why this is an issue to detract from the substance of what happened in Parliament yesterday," he said, the latter referencing the debate on Tobago self-government.

Rowley defended Annisette-George, saying she had acted correctly and that Persad-Bissessar had been "delinquent and disrespectful" to her by talking loudly even as the Speaker was on her legs.

He said Persad-Bissessar had been misleading by saying the bill had been gutted, and accused her of an incorrect anticipation.

Rowley chided her for saying the Government had taken out 51 clauses to render the bill worse than the THA Act 1996.

He insisted the Opposition had received the bill in time to study it properly. Further he said the Government had in fact laid the Tobago Island Council Bill.

Several times the PM urged the media to compile a comparison of the political state of Tobago with and without the current bill.

Rowley said that as former opposition leader, he had never missed parliamentary debates, in an apparent jibe at Persad-Bissessar, whose timing of arrival in the chamber on Tuesday he had criticised. He flatly denied any intent to bully Tobago.

"We'll take every action to get Tobago to the polls, so the Tobago people can elect an executive.

"We'll not leave Tobago in limbo where the incumbents remain. As of now, if Tobagonians do not go to the polls what is going on there now is going to continue and we don't want that to continue."

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"PNM, UNC in tit for tat over Tobago bills"

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