(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday uninvited herself from a meeting planned by her Works and Infrastructure Minister Jack Warner at Petite Morne, Ste Madeleine.
The meeting was held to brief residents living along the proposed path of the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway.
Warner’s communications advisers had earlier yesterday issued a press statement advising of the visit, stating that Persad-Bissessar would also be attending.
However, Persad-Bissessar’s public engagement adviser, Lisa Ghany, later issued a release stating the visit was never on the Prime Minister’s itinerary and she would not be attending.
Warner said of the Prime Minister’s absence: “We invited the Prime Minister and all of the other ministers. They all were occupied and said they could not make it. Even (Housing and Environment Minister) Mr Moonilal, who lives close by, could not make it.”
He said nothing should be inferred from Persad-Bissessar’s absence.”She just could not make it,” he said.
Residents living between Fyzabad, Debe, and Mon Desir attended yesterday’s meeting. Warner told them the relocation process should be completed by April and would be done in phases.
He said the settlements being developed at Petite Morne and Cedar Hill for the displaced would not be completed in time, but people would be allowed to find rental properties, the cost of which would be paid by the State.
He also said some displaced people would be temporarily housed in homes built by the Housing Development Corporation.
