Opposition leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is calling on the Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley to tell the country which member of the Opposition UNC is currently a senior official in his government?
Speaking virtually before the parliament on Friday, Rowley stated that investigations into allegations in a 2020 US Trafficking in Persons report that “senior government officials” were involved in human trafficking, have revealed that the reference was to current Parliamentarians who aren’t on the Government side.
In a statement today, Persad-Bissessar said the US Trafficking in Persons 2022 Report clearly states “SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS” and once again, Rowley abused the cover of parliamentary privilege to make a complete fool of himself.
She said any primary school student could read the US Report and understand the words “senior government officials”.
The first section of the Report states:
“Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, inhibiting law enforcement action, and the government did not take action against senior government officials alleged in 2020 to be involved in human trafficking.”
Persad-Bissessar said the report also clearly states that the government did not take action on the allegations. “There is no one in our country who would believe the Rowley PNM government would take no action if the alleged officials were UNC. Clearly, PNM officials are the ones involved.”
“This is a PNM government which wasted $45 million chasing ghosts at EMBD, paid millions in the Nelsongate scandal and wasted millions in Emailgate all with the intention of harassing UNC members. Rowley would have been champing at the bit to go after any UNC official had they been accused of human trafficking to score political points.
The PNM has already covered up the paedophile ring within their Party and Rowley must take action against the senior officials within his PNM government who have been implicated in this human trafficking scandal.”
The opposition leader now wants Rowley to treat the scourge of human trafficking seriously and to desist from using such a horrific crime to score cheap political points and distractions, as this is not a joking matter.
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