The Opposition boycotted yesterday’s House sitting, claiming that the Parliament had not been sanitized since Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley sat in the space on March 26, just days before he was diagnosed as COVID-19 positive.
While the Government came prepared to debate the Anti-Gang legislation, they were met by an empty Opposition bench.
Instead, the Opposition called a media conference to explain that it wrote to the Speaker of the House to say its members would not be attending.
Speaking to the media from the Office of the Opposition Leader in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Kamla Persad-Bissessar said that the party did give notice of its intention to boycott Parliament but they did not receive a response.
“The Chief Whip wrote on behalf of the Opposition members to the Honourable Speaker about COVID-19 protocols for Friday’s sitting. In this letter we set out the facts as we know them, given the fact that the Prime Minister has tested positive for COVID-19, “ she said.
Persad-Bissessar read out a list of the Prime Minister’s whereabouts and questioned whether others around him were being tested.
“We waited up to today until about 12.30 and we have had no response to this. Given that, we took it upon ourselves to send the letters requesting leave,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar said that the Prime Minister did say that it would take “one fool” to spread the virus and is now saying, “we have found that one fool”.
“The Government is breaking the law and when they break it then they cover it up,” she said.
“It’s just lies and cover-up,” she said.
Persad-Bissessar denied that the Opposition did not apply for the leave from the debate today.
“We did apply but then they did not have the courtesy to read it,” she said.
She also questioned why there was a sudden spike in COVID-19 numbers.
“How is it that we are shut down and yet we are reporting so many cases. Where did the Prime Minister get this from? Where did you get it? From whom?” Persad-Bissessar asked.
The Opposition Leader detailed the Prime Ministers whereabouts, including his contact with the Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh and Minister of National Security Stuart Young as well as the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roshan Parasram.
She asked whether any of those men were tested and quarantined as is the established protocol.
She claimed that there is one law for the PNM and another for everyone else.
“Why are you breaking the law that you are asking others to uphold?” she asked.
Guardian Media reached out to the three men to ask if they tested for COVID-19 and only Minister of National Security Stuart Young responded.
“I have been tested, I am negative for COVID-19,” he said.
He did not respond to subsequent questions about whether or not he underwent his test the same day as the Prime Minister or after.
The Office of the Prime Minister announced on Tuesday that Dr Rowley was diagnosed with the virus.