Opposition Leader Keith Rowley yesterday slammed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's PP Government for nepotism in high-level appointments and for Persad- Bissessar's poor defence on the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) issue. On the recent resignation of short-lived SIA head, Reshmi Ramnarine-over whom controversy erupted last week-Rowley said: "I'm accused of hounding Ms Ramnarine out of office, but I do not know the woman. "But if I'm accused of removing her, I plead guilty with pride...I did my job and I expect my cheque at the end of the month," he said.
"That's what you have elected me to do. If you say something is blue and it's not, it's my job to say so."
Speaking at the PNM's Diego Martin West constituency conference, Rowley also said he had information that a member of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission- which appoints judges-"once had a rusty lock turned behind him in a jail." And in the wake of the PNM's "victory" on the SIA issue, Rowley has renewed his ultimatum for Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed to be removed.
Rowley said the SIA issue blew up due to the sensitive nature of the SIA head's job, the recent debate in the Parliament on the agency and because of the "high level of vulgarity involved in the nepotistic appointment" of Ramnarine. Rowley raised the issue of who Ramnarine should have resigned to.
He asked: "If the President appointed the person, who would they resign to?" He said he hoped to get a reply on this by today.
Saying there were others who were appointed in a similar way to Ramnarine, Rowley noted WASA CEO Ganga Singh. "The same way the Prime Minister put her partner to head the SIA, the minister put his partner to head Wasa...and the same thing is happening at Piarco where the Works Minister is hiring a set of managers-no advertisments." Saying the SIA issue had put Persad- Bissessar in a desperate position, Rowley alleged: "When the whole country is saying to Madam, 'We will not accept from you any of your liming or drinking partners, unqualified as she is, to head the SIA,' do you know what she said?
"Instead of saying 'Oh God, they catch me' and back away from that, she say 'Is Rowley nancy story,'" he added. Rowley said the worst thing Persad- Bissessar did was to say the PNM's objection was based on Ramnarine's gender or youth. Dismissing PP claims that the PNM was against the former appointee's youth, he noted that PNM MP Ian Anthony had been the country's youngest MP and general secretary Ashton Ford had been the country's youngest mayor.
"The PNM has no issue with young people...The PNM put a huge slice of the budget into developing youths via GATE and other projects-so the Prime Minister can take that and shove it!" Rowley said. The Government's accusation that his objection was based on ethnicity was also incorrect, he said, since the person who is better qualified for the SIA job is of a similar background as Ramnarine.