The Opposition Leader has criticized the Prime Minister for his absence from today’s media conference.

A media conference was held today to discuss the newly declared State of Emergency.

It featured National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Acting Attorney General Stuart Young.

Dr Keith Rowley was absent from the event, with Minister Young stating that the Minister of National Security and Attorney General were the relevant authorities to speak on this matter.

In a statement, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar knocked his absence, saying shows a lack of seriousness and a lack of courage to address the nation.

She also believes the SoE is “a last-ditch, desperate attempt at propaganda for General elections” by convincing the population that Government has a crime plan.

Mrs Persad-Bissessar also criticized the way in which news of the SoE was initially relayed, saying “The very method by which the Rowley Government chose to inform the country of this crucial decision— which will affect all aspects of our collective and individual lives and our economic activities and prospects— was a testament to their perpetual, disastrous, confused, dismissive, incompetent modus operandi. The country awoke this morning to a dubious press release that declared an SOE but had no details nor even identifiable official markings, and it was rightly rapidly condemned as fake news by most people.”