Chester Sam­bra­no

Op­po­si­tion Leader, Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar has called on Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley to open up small busi­ness­es and man­u­fac­tur­ing com­pa­nies as part of the first phase of re­open­ing that kicks in to­day.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar spoke with re­porters in San Fer­nan­do dur­ing a na­tion­wide dis­tri­b­u­tion of ham­pers to moth­ers yes­ter­day.

On Sat­ur­day, the Prime Min­is­ter an­nounced that restau­rants and oth­er places sell­ing food will be al­lowed to re­open from to­day for pick-ups and de­liv­er­ies un­til 8 pm dai­ly.

But Per­sad-Bisses­sar said that is sim­ply not enough.

“There are still those who are se­ri­ous­ly af­fect­ed by the eco­nom­ic im­pact and the Prime Min­is­ter should se­ri­ous­ly con­sid­er not just open­ing the food places but small busi­ness­es,” she said.

She added that small busi­ness­es are “re­al­ly suf­fer­ing” and those busi­ness­es may have one or two em­ploy­ees.

She said Dr Row­ley should re­con­sid­er his de­ci­sion and “re­al­ly look to open­ing up the small busi­ness­es and man­u­fac­tur­ing.”

She added that “these are the ones who will come back and get jobs that are go­ing and put us on the path to eco­nom­ic re­cov­ery.”

Fol­low­ing the Prime Min­ster’s an­nounce­ment on Sat­ur­day, sev­er­al busi­ness as­so­ci­a­tions, in­clud­ing the man­u­fac­tur­ers as­so­ci­a­tion, ex­pressed con­cerns about re­main­ing closed.