(Trinidad Express) Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s ‘wajang’ behaviour places Trinidad and Tobago at risk if United States President Donald Trump pulls support to the Caribbean basin programme says Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
“Prime Minister of little Trinidad and Tobago he get so big he want to bouf up Trump. Well we’ll find out who is the bigger Trump soon to come,” she said at the United National Congress (UNC) public meeting on Monday at the Aranguez North Secondary school.
She noted Rowley’s criticism of the United States Department of State in its 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TiPs) report which gave this country an F-grade in terms of its handling of human trafficking.
Rowley criticised the report as he slammed the US own foreign policy.
‘We got an F, they say. Well, if I (were) marking their paper, what would I give them? They have the same problem that we have – thousands of migrants rushing your border wanting to come into your country because they see a greener grass on your side than on their side,’ he said.
Rowley added: ‘That is the number one political issue in America! Hundreds of thousands of people, and their own people are telling you that those people, some of them, are treated like dogs and cattle.
‘Children are dying on the border, some of them in cages, hundreds of people in a room that was made for ten.
‘The temperature is 41 degrees, and of course, they have a bigger military. They’ve got a bigger security system. They’ve got an army, a navy, an air force, and they’ve got a bigger Treasury than T& T.
Persad-Bissessar said Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign policy and diplomacy has failed as she knocked Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses as the man whom no one can understand when he speaks.
She said this was not the first time Rowley has ‘boufed’ the US as she noted that earlier this year Rowley also criticised the US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Joseph N. Mondello.
In January this year, Mondello described as “deeply concerning” statements coming from the T&T Government recognising the “undemocratic and illegitimate government” of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela.
Hours later, in the Parliament Rowley fired back at Ambassador Mondello’s statement saying he took umbrage.
Persad-Bissessar said back then she warned that the US is this country’s largest trading partner.
“And Madame WPC, Woman Police Constable Camille in the Parliament when we were there objecting to the manner in which Mr Rowley was behaving, Camille say ‘so what? What Trump go do we?’ Well let me tell you what Trump can do you and do Trinidad and Tobago,” said Persad-Bissessar.
She said the Caribbean Basin Initiative programme allows this country preferential privileges with respect to trade with the US.
“That has to come up for renewal in the Congress of the United States of America next year. You want to know what Trump can do you? Trump has the power to determine whether that programme will continue for the benefit of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, that is what Trump can do you,” she said.
She added the US report was about human trafficking.
“The late Mr Manning, may his soul rest in peace he was right when he described Mr Rowley as wajang, rotweiler, every time the man speaks he shouting at someone,” she said.
She also noted that the Rowley’s ‘whole cabinet’ was present to open a road in Chaguanas – an initiative which she said stemmed from her Government.
