The Government of Trinidad and Tobago on Friday condemned attacks on Prime Minister Keith Rowley by Guyana’s Health Ministry Advisor Dr Leslie Ramsammy and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).
“The Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs strongly condemns the published falsehoods against Prime Minister Rowley by Dr. Ramsammy and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and calls upon the authorities in Guyana to disassociate themselves from such unwarranted, scurrilous and disrespectful attacks on the sitting Chairman of CARICOM,” Trinidad’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response to the attacks.
On Thursday, both Ramsammy and the GCCI accused Rowley of criticising Guyana’s COVID-19 vaccination programme and suggesting that the vaccines used could be unsafe.
Rowley had made no such claim and instead, in an address to his citizens he had explained that Guyana had been able to access more doses of COVID-19 vaccine because it chose to use vaccines which had not yet received approval from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The vaccination programme in Trinidad and Tobago is as good as or probably better than most, certainly in the CARICOM and worldwide…the only country in CARICOM that has received into its borders more vaccines than Trinidad and Tobago is Guyana and the reason for that is that Guyana took a decision which we did not take… the Guyana Government took a decision… to use vaccines that were not approved by World Health Organization. As a result of that Guyana had a larger volume of vaccines available,” Rowley explained on Wednesday.
On Thursday Ramsammy issued a public commentary in which he claimed Rowley said that “Guyana’s vaccines do not count since they are not approved.”
The Ministerial adviser then stressed that all the vaccines in use in Guyana were registered and approved for use by Guy-ana’s Food and Drug Analyst Department. He accused the Trinidadian Head of State of attempting to change the narrative and to distract from the “fiasco” of his country’s vaccination program by attacking Guyana.
GCCI, in a statement issued on Thurs-day evening, made similar assertions and went further to claim that Rowley was displaying “scant regard for the lives of Guyanese.”
In response, Trinidad’s Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs yesterday stressed that “at no point in time has the Prime Minister ever disparaged the vaccine programme in Guyana, nor has he ever implied that the vaccines in use in Guyana are defective or unsafe; and it is extremely unfortunate that the Advisor to the Ministry of Health of Guyana would use falsehood to publicly attack the Prime Minister of a friendly neighbouring country”.
It called Ramsammy’s statements misleading, disrespectful, and potentially damaging comments, while saying he could offer not one single quotation from the Prime Minister to support his false allegations, nor did Ramsammy offer a shred of evidence to support his misleading claims.
Stabroek News reached out to Ramsammy for a response to the statement but up to press time he could not be reached.
Trinidad’s Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs also called the GCCI statement reprehensible and slanderous.
“The Statement… makes references to Prime Minister Rowley that are completely false and appear to simply repeat the fake narrative of Dr. Ramsammy. Further, that Chamber Statement’s disgusting slur to the effect that Prime Minister Rowley “fulfils his historical trait of demonstrating scant regard for the lives of Guyanese” must be regarded as a particularly scurrilous attack against the Chairman of CARICOM,” the ministry stated.
Ironically, the ministry noted, the GCCI’s remarks came mere days after Rowley instructed the relevant arms of his Government to organize much needed relief supplies and assistance for Guyana, in response to the Government of Guyana`s request through CARICOM for help with the response to heavy floods. “Further, Dr. Rowley, as Chairman of CARICOM has been well recognized for his robust and consistent advocacy and frequent communication with US and global leadership on behalf of all CARICOM people, including the people of Guyana, in pursuit of greater access to COVD-19 vaccines for our region. Additionally, Dr. Rowley intervened to help achieve the release of Guyanese fishermen detained in Venezuela earlier this year, he led CARICOM’s support for Guyana during a critical period of the border (controversy) with Venezuela, and he physically went to Guyana during the pandemic to work with fellow Heads to assist in CARICOM`s efforts toward ensuring that the outcome of Guyana`s most recent general elections was peaceful and reflective of the will of its people,” it added.
GCCI President Timothy Tucker yesterday declined a request to respond to the ministry’s criticisms. “What was released yesterday is our only response to the matter. I have no further comment,” he said when contacted.
