Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley must immediately resign for this unforgivable display of negligence and incompetence, which has placed Trinidad and Tobago in grave jeopardy.
So said Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, following government’s rejection of the Patriotic Energies Limited’s bid for the Petrotrin refinery.
Persad-Bissessar said the move came as no surprise to her.
She said “Just as the Prime Minister lied when he said the refinery would not be shut down, days before doing just that, the PNM never intended to honour the pledge they made to sell the refinery to its former workers.”
She said Tuesday’s press conference with Minister of Finance Colm Imbert and Minister of Energy Franklyn Khan only raises more questions than answers.
“If Patriotic Energies had no set means of financing, on what basis did the Government award them the refinery in the first place? Why was Minister Imbert so confident in October of 2019 that the refinery would be reopened in 12 months? It is clear now that all these promises by the Government pre-election to place the refinery in the hands of the citizens were just baseless election gimmicks.”
According to Persad-Bissessar, had the Rowley PNM been serious about addressing our citizens’ socio-economic well-being and energy sector, these Petrotrin issues would have been dealt with in a timely manner months before the 2020 General election not only to ensure the reopening of the refinery but to curb issues of Forex shortages and unemployment.
She added “Their incompetence and insolence have even worsened the state of the refinery leaving it idle for so long. Given that the Petrotrin refinery has been shut for almost three years now, and with ever-increasing costs to restart it, who will now want to purchase this asset?”
The UNC leader further went on to ask whether or not the government will allow the Maduro regime the opportunity to purchase the refinery?
She said “The destruction of Petrotrin, along with the crisis unfolding at the Pt. Lisas Industrial Estate due to Keith Rowley’s bad gas negotiations mean our energy sector is in complete meltdown. The ramifications of this are catastrophic.”
“As the largest earner of foreign exchange, the collapse of our energy sector will affect every citizen. It means our current Frorex crisis will only get worse. Retailers have already warned that a food crisis is looming due to the inability of many to access Forex.
Persad-Bissessar said “Keith Rowley must immediately resign for this unforgivable display of negligence and incompetence which has placed Trinidad and Tobago in grave jeopardy.”
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