All ministers and government MPs have been told to cancel all travel as Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar prepares for Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley's motion of no confidence against her. It will be debated next week Friday when Parliament reconvenes after the one-week break for Carnival. It will be the first such motion to be brought against Persad-Bissessar, and it comes less that two years into her five-year term. Leader of government business in the House of Representatives, Housing and the Environment Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, yesterday directed all government MPs and senators "to be in attendance to support the Government and participate, if necessary, in the debate."
He said, consequently: "All ministers and Members of Parliament are required to cancel travel arrangements to ensure your presence at the Parliament on Friday, March 2, 2012." Cabinet concluded its business early yesterday to allow for a meeting of all government MPs and senators to strategise for the debate. That meeting took place at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's. Rowley's motion was filed in Parliament on February 17.
It read: "Whereas an unending series of events have demonstrated:
• The Prime Minister's gross incompetence
• Failure to stimulate the economy and create sustainable employment
•A consequent unwillingness to act in the best interest of the people of Trinidad and Tobago
n 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.
Be it resolved that this Honourable House express its concern and lack of confidence in Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar."
Persad-Bissessar, in her first public comment on the motion, two days later, said it was "frivolous, vexatious and totally without merit." Rowley said he did not expect the Opposition to defeat the Government in the debate because the Government had 29 MPs, while the Opposition only had 12 MPs, but one, former prime minister MP Patrick Manning, remains at a hospital in the United States, recuperating from a mild stroke. Rowley said the debate was expected to provide a platform for disclosures and revelations about the governance of T&T under the 22-month-old People's Partnership Government.