Calling on the Government to complete a proper investigation into the claims made by Cambridge Analytica (CA) whistleblower Christopher Wylie, Congress of the People (COP) leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan says the issue is now only being used to score cheap political points.
Speaking at a press conference at the COP office in Curepe, Seepersad-Bachan said finding out who were the people responsible for giving CA access to the private information of citizens is not rocket science.
Wylie, in a tell-all book titled “Mindf***” listed T&T as one of the country’s where CA illegally mined citizens data.
“Wylie named agencies where CA got the information, it is not that hard to find out who had the authority to authorise them access to that data,” Seepersad-Bachan said.
“Let us not continue with this speculation, we are in the midst of a Local Government Election, there lies the problem, we use all these issues and we get so caught up politically to gain political points and this is not helping the people of T&T.”
Commenting on the statements made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on a political platform on Tuesday night, where he announced that Police Commissioner Gary Griffith was cleared of any ties to the CA data-mining scandal, Seepersad-Bachan questioned whether an investigation had already been completed.
“If it is not Gary Griffith, then say which Minister of National Security it was, name him! You must know, for you to have been able to clear him (Griffith) means you must have done an investigation, you have some results from an investigation that tells you it is not him, then who is it? This game that is going on between the two political parties,” Seepersad-Bachan said.
She and the party’s chairman, Lonsdale Williams said some of the party’s candidates for the upcoming LGE were bought off by their political opponents.
Williams said on November 10, the party had 18 candidates ready to submit themselves for nomination.
However, by the next morning, only 10 showed up to register at the various Elections and Boundaries Commissions offices across the country.
“We have been told that our candidates were being offered money not to contest the LGE,” Williams said.
However, he said the party could not confirm how many of the eight took the money to withdraw their candidacies.
One candidate also dropped out of the race after registering.
Lonsdale said the COP has also been informed by its supporters that their political opponents have been offering $300 bribes for votes.
Seepersad-Bachan said the party’s supporters have vowed to record and share any instances of bribing and these recordings will be shared with the police and the media.