Former government minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to fire Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner forthwith. Mincing no words, Abdul-Hamid tore into Warner at a People's National Movement (PNM) meeting on Harris Promenade, San Fernando, on Tuesday night. Former prime minister Patrick Manning also called on Persad-Bissessar to fire Warner if he refused to resign. Warner was suspended as the vice president of FIFA, after bribery allegations. The meeting was held by Manning at the end of his seven-day walk to protest his suspension from Parliament.
Abdul-Hamid said: "I am ashamed of Jack Warner. I am ashamed of the UNC. They would like me to believe that Jack Warner in FIFA and Jack Warner in government is two different people, trying to argue that his conduct in FIFA is unrelated to his conduct in government. "It is not the institution, it is the individual. Either the individual has a problem with proper ethics and if Kamla Persad-Bissessar has any integrity whatsoever, she will fire Jack Warner forthwith." Manning, who said as prime minister he had worked very hard to build the image of T&T, said: "Jack Warner's conduct has not been a credit to T&T and he ought to demit office as fast as possible, pending the outcome of those investigations. If he will not resign, then the prime minister of T&T who appointed him must fire him forthwith from the Cabinet."
Referring to other FIFA corruption allegations against Warner, he said: "Now the Government want to put him as the epiphany of moral aptitude." Manning was critical of Persad-Bissessar's position that a man was innocent until proven guilty. He recalled that when allegations were made against former PNM ministers Franklin Khan and Eric Williams, they resigned before being charged. "When Mary King was fired was she charged for anything? When Calder Hart resigned for what was he charged?" he asked.
Manning advised Persad-Bissessar to take notice of what was happening around the world with governments and leaders who have lost favour with the people. He said that was the main reason why he called general election.