Opposition to counter government over inequality in exemption process

Trinidad & Tobago: The current opposition of TT, United National Congress (UNC) intends to challenge the government's waiver process and the system of allocation to regional corporations.

Speaking at the launch of the party's campaign for 2021 local government by-elections, UNC leader Kamala Persad-Bissessar said UNC advocates are looking at these policies to challenge "inequality" in these processes.

Persad-Bissesser accused National Security Minister Stuart Young of being untrue about the government's waiver policy parameters.

He said evidence of this disparity is that Young's policy is not "first-come, first-served." It is in the repatriation of the daughter of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and son of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

Further, she claims that the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Security was allowed to leave the country on 19 December and returned on 30 December.

She questioned why these individuals were given exemption in front of those citizens abroad who have been applying to return to the country for past many months.

Persad-Bissesser then questioned whether the government's policy on exemptions was in light of this apparent "jump in the queue."

Local news website sought comment from National Security Minister Stuart Young on the claims of the Leader of the Opposition.

He said: "Mrs. Persad Bissesser has sadly put herself in a position of utter impropriety and has been resorting to straws for quite some time. She is the same person who made the country (and for the world) Has told. Will build a dome and rely on sunlight as reactions to the COVID-19 epidemic. I will not facilitate her sad desperation to be relevant to her answer."