The controversial Reshmi Ramnarine, who was implicated in Government's Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) fiasco last year, has changed her name to "Sasha Rikma" and obtained a Government contract job under the new name, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has revealed. Calling for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to respond on these and other issues which he raised in Parliament yesterday, Rowley declared: "...incompetence, corruption and hypocrisy of the worst kind and I hold the Prime Minister personally responsible."
The People's National Movement (PNM) leader dropped the "Reshmi" bombshell among several other disclosures which he made in piloting yesterday's House debate on his motion of no confidence against Persad-Bissessar. Rowley also revealed that a Government credit card belonging to the Tobago Development Minister (Vernella Alleyne-Toppin) was used for local cash withdrawals when the card was meant only for such business overseas.
He also revealed a report by Jack Warner's Works Ministry on issues concerning Caribbean Airlines chairman George Nicholas III-a matter which Rowley dubbed "Calder Hart Two." Saying he noticed that the Government had "panicked" at his no-confidence motion, Rowley hit Persad-Bissessar concerning the two pillars on which he said the People's Partnership entered office-crime and the economy. Rowley said he had given Persad-Bissessar the benefit of the doubt when she spoke last year about people being spied upon by the SIA.
But he said Ramnarine-whom he described a clerk and telephone operator-became Strategic Services Agency head "mysteriously" with prime ministerial backing. Rowley said Persad-Bissessar had never taken responsibility for the situation. He said Ramnarine was the only person who had moved on in the issue.
Holding up a deed poll, Rowley said: "This deed poll here says, 'By this deed I the undersigned, Sasha Rikma, of 9, Building, Savannah Road, in T&T, now or lately called Reshmi Usha Ramnarine, a citizen of T&T by birth, do hereby for myself wholly renounce, relinquish and abandon the name and abandon the use of my name Reshmi Usha Ramnarine and in lieu therefore assume the name Sasha Rikma.'
"I want to ask the Prime Minister and the ministers what is it about Reshmi Ramnarine that she is so mindful of her and why is it that she had to change her name and where is she now?" he said. "Esconced in the Government with a contract job? Who gave her that job and how she came to it under a new name? "The Prime Minister has not convinced us that she is not being blackmailed.
"This is a serious matter which the Prime Minister has never addressed. "And this issue of Reshmi Ramnarine changing her name and ending up in the public system under the patronage of some minister, who must identify him or herself, is of interest to the people. "I want to ask the Prime Minister, what does Reshmi Ramnarine have over you that you are so mindful of her?"
Rowley called on Persad-Bissessar to assure that SIA head Julie Brown, who recommended Ramnarine for the SSA job, would never be appointed SSA director. He said Brown was unfit for her current post. Saying he had problems with how Persad-Bissessar managed her team, Rowley noted that the credit card issued to ministers was meant for withdrawal use during foreign travel. But he noted that the card belonging to the Tobago Development Minister was used for several things locally, including an $800 bill at MovieTowne Restaurant and cash withdrawals in Trinidad and Tobago.
Noting that Persad-Bissessar had called for the resignation of PNM minister Camille Robinson-Regis in a credit card issue, Rowley asked whether Persad-Bissessar would do the same in this matter. "The Prime Minister has responsibility for the people under her," he added. Rowley also noted a 2011 report by Jack Warner's ministry-before the July 2011 Cabinet reshuffle concerning a $27 million contract award for an employee benefit plan by CAL.
He said the report raised questions on the process and CAL's ability to be ethical and unbiased. The report also recommended an Integrity Commission probe to determine whether CAL chairman Nicholas compromised his office by not fully disclosing his conflict of interest as required. Rowley said minutes of a meeting on the issue showed that while Nicholas declared his interest, he still took a significant part in the discussions and the contract was awarded to his firm.
He said Persad-Bissessar also disregarded Finance Minister Winston Dookeran's advice to dismiss CAL's board, yet heeded others' advice on it. Accusing Persad-Bissessar of taking Nicholas' side, Rowley added: "This is Calder Hart Two...and the next thing, we're having a Cabinet reshuffle. "Transport is removed from the Works Ministry, in comes a new minister and the (CAL) chairman remains intact," he added.
Rowley said the situation was the same as when he had raised issues regarding Udecott and the Customs Building construction with previous prime minister Patrick Manning. He said Persad-Bissessar had changed the Works Ministry, yet allowed CAL's chairman "free rein." Rowley called for answers on why contractors who rented unmarked cars to the police were not being paid and what effect the absence of those surveillance vehicles would have on police work.