Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles says the Prime Minister must either apologize to the PNM for recent defamatory statements.
In a social media post outlining recent accomplishments by her Government, Mrs Persad-Bissessar referred to the PNM as “a party long suspected of being financed by the local drug mafia and implicated in numerous allegations of paedophilia…”
Ms Beckles has condemned that comment, saying it was made without a shred of verifiable evidence, and as part of an attempt to deflect from shortcomings.
She says, “If the Prime Minister possesses credible evidence that members of any political party (and especially in her own) are engaged in organised crime, sexual exploitation, trafficking or financial criminality, her duty is immediate and unequivocal. That evidence must be placed before the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for professional investigation.”
She adds that “the Constitution does not permit trial by political platform” and maintains that the Office of the Prime Minister is a position of national trust that must not be eroded.
As such, she says a failure to apologise can only be replaced with the PM’s immediate resignation.
