Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to file motion of no confidence against Opposition leader Keith Rowley

As the 2015 general elections in Trinidad & Tobogo approach, the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her ruling coalition are taking the unusual step of filing a motion of no confidence against opposition leader Keith Rowley.

“I have instructed the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives in the Parliament to file a motion of no confidence against the Leader of the Opposition over Dr. Rowley’s failure and refusal to disclose the fact that Mr. David West was a potential witness for him in support of his defence in a pending defamation lawsuit brought by the former attorney general,” Persad-Bissessar told a public meeting of her ruling United National Congress (UNC) on Monday night.

“I have also instructed our lawyers to advise on whether Dr. Rowley’s silence, misrepresentation, violated the provisions of the Integrity in Public Life Act so as to justify an investigation by the Integrity Commission. Our lawyers will advise whether there is a prima facie case to show that he (Rowley) is in breach of the Integrity in Public Life Act,” she added.

Persad-Bissessar requested and accepted the resignations of both the Attorney General Anand Ramlogan and the national security minister Gary Griffith following the disclosure by the police that they had launched an investigation into possible charges of perverting the course of justice against Ramlogan.

The police probe was sparked by Griffith indicating that he had been asked by the then attorney general to get West, the director of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) to withdraw a witness statement in support of Rowley in a defamation suit bright against him by Ramlogan.

Persad-Bissessar told party supporters that she would soon announce the date for the general elections that must be held no later than September this year, but that her administration still had a lot of work to complete.

The main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) has already started screening and announcing candidates to contest the 41 seats at stake in the elections.

She told supporters that Rowley had over the last five years failed to demonstrate leadership qualities adding “we must not let them get into office because the 84-plus schools that we are building now should they come into office, they will not open them. They will close them down. They will not complete them. The Children’s Hospital that we are building in Couva will not be completed by them. The South Campus will not be completed.” – (CMC)