Politics
Trinidad and Tobago:Persad Bissessar gov’t defeats no-confidence motion
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister., Kamla Persad Bissessar. PHOTO/reuters
(CMC) – The five-party People’s Partnership coalition Saturday closed ranks and easily defeated a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar and reiterated early positions that the measure was “frivolous and senseless”.
Instead the government voted in support of an amendment that read “whereas the Prime Minister and her historic People’s Partnership government inherited an economy in decline, a culture of wastage, raging and rampant crime, debilitating corruption and a style of arrogance in leadership, which led to its disconnect between the people and the government”.
When the vote was taken, the government defeated the opposition motion by a 29-11 margin. Former prime minister Patrick Manning was not present in Parliament as he is still recovering from a stroke.
The government had on Friday used its majority to amend the motion that had been filed by Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Rowley, recalling that in 1995 and 2008, the then People’s National Movement (PNM) government had used its majority to amend motions of no confidence against Manning.
By amending the motion, it meant that Prime Minister Persad Bissessar closed the debate and she told legislators that “the motion has brought forth a lot on both sides of the House”.
She said after more than 27 hours of constant debate, it was obvious that her administration had taken the motion “very seriously” and that she was pleased with the “overwhelming support’ shown in her defence by her Cabinet colleagues.
“I have every confidence in my ministers,” she said, adding that at the end of the presentations by the opposition provided no new information to the public.
She said the anticipated “bombshells” had fizzled out to “as one legislator described it as conch shells” adding that the presentations were a “rehash of the same things.”
“What was the nation put on pause for,” she said in reference to the motion, adding “in a sense there is very little to respond to.”
“It is a frivolous and senseless exercise,” she said, adding that “not an iota of evidence has been presented to this House. What we got were spurious and wild allegations.”
“This motion was doomed to fail from the start. When you come with a vote of no confidence, you are trying to unseat a government. In other words you are trying un-seat a government without evidence. You come into Parliament with a fishing expedition,” she said of the Opposition motion that read she was incompetent because of “an unending series of events that have demonstrated : the Prime Minister’s gross incompetence; failure to stimulate the economy and create sustainable employment; a consistent unwillingness to act in the best interest of the people of Trinidad and Tobago; an absence of effective management of officers under the control of the Prime Minister, resulting in persistent confusion and encouragement of wrongdoing in the conduct of the national affairs of Trinidad and Tobago”.
The Prime Minister told Parliament that she was never fearful of the motion succeeding telling legislators “I have no fear of anyone but God”.
She described Rowley’s presentations as perhaps “the weakest in history” and reiterated that her coalition administration that came to power on May 24, 2010 is as strong as ever.
“There is no palace coup in the People’s Partnership, no conspiracy of any kind in the People’s Partnership,” she said, defending her administration’s policy on dealing crime and the economy.
The Prime Minister also used her contribution to refute suggestions that the former head of the director of the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) Reshmi Usha Ramnarine, who has since changed her name, “had something holding over her”.
“Show me where there is an illegality in that (someone changing their name). I can’t see why you have no confidence in me,” she said, adding that the suggestion by the Opposition Leader was to tarnish “my character in something that is a total falsehood.
‘Nothing is further from the truth. There is nothing to blackmail me with” she said accusing Rowley of using the Parliament to spread “ludicrous” statements about her.
“Give me evidence in this House that I encouraged wrong doing,” she added.
Earlier, Rowley said that the prime minister by her actions had forced Trinidad and Tobago to lose his front line position within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
He accused her also of failing to attend an important CARICOM meeting at which the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was being debated.