Trinidadian PM Rowley slams opposition, says 'If you behave like that, you're on your own'

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has condemned the leader of the opposition, Kamla Persad Bissessar for making misleading claims that the Government intends to increase Value Added Tax. He made the statement during Thursday’s Post-Cabinet Media Briefing held at Whitehall. While addressing Opposition Leader Kamla, he said he asked her, no matter how much political difficulty she is in the Parliament, not to forget that she is an officer of state with serious responsibility and a part of the governance of Trinidad and Tobago and if she is prepared to behave like this, she is on her own, but the PNM does not behave like that.

“And I simply want to ask the opposition leader, no matter how much political difficulty you are in in the Parliament, not to forget that you are an officer of state with serious responsibility, and you are part of the governance of Trinidad and Tobago. And if you are prepared to behave like that, you're on your own. But the PNM does not behave like that,” outlined Keith Rowley.

He cleared out the air and explained that the opposition leader got access to some working documents of the cabinet and added, “Those working documents started with a cabinet note, and it contains an appendix. An appendix is something you add to a document for clarification, right?” he added.

The Prime Minister continued to say that in the appendix, there was a whole set of information, and if the cabinet needs such information, it's available there. However,  there was no recommendation, no discussion, and certainly no decision about that, claimed Rowley.

While calling the Opposition Leader’s claims as ‘disturbing’, he noted that for her to have seen such a document which shows some statements by the Finance Ministry referring to changes in prices of some products and selecting out a statement written by somebody and saying that the Government has taken a decision to increase that is not quite good.

He further noted that she then went on to call him a liar, the finance ministry a liar, and even the whole cabinet a liar.

Rowley emphasised that the circumstances can be influenced for the worse by statements like that coming from officials of the nation and outlined, “When officials holding those positions speak, their words have effect. There are people in the financial sector, the people in the business sector who will hear it and would be inclined to say, that they don’t believe the Government.”