Rhon­da Krys­tal Ram­bal­ly

Take it or leave it. That was the ad­vice of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar on Gov­ern­ment's of­fer of $75,000 pay­out to Cli­co pol­i­cy­hold­ers. Say­ing she was sym­pa­thet­ic, Per­sad-Bisses­sar, how­ev­er, said peo­ple need­ed to un­der­stand the State's po­si­tion. She was speak­ing to re­porters in the VIP Lounge at the Pi­ar­co Air­port yes­ter­day morn­ing.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said: "It is an of­fer that peo­ple can refuse. It is an of­fer that you can take. "At the end of the day, your course of ac­tion is not against the Gov­ern­ment. The course of ac­tion will be against the in­sti­tu­tion that failed you in the first place and if you want to sue that in­sti­tu­tion, then what hap­pens to you? It is an in­sol­vent in­sti­tu­tion." She said the State was act­ing as a third par­ty and try­ing to help as best as it could.

"It is an of­fer that we have made," Per­sad-Bisses­sar said, main­tain­ing Gov­ern­ment act­ed with­in the law. She said Fi­nance Min­is­ter Win­ston Dook­er­an's state­ments about the is­sue "doesn't at­tempt to reg­u­late but to give a hand out... giv­ing a hand, reach­ing a hand... you have suf­fered and we are mak­ing an of­fer to you." She said the of­fer was one Gov­ern­ment could af­ford at this time. She said it would be "well worth it" for those pol­i­cy­hold­ers with a de­posit un­der $75,000 to ac­cept the of­fer.

The Prime Min­is­ter said she was will­ing to meet with those who had "oth­er views," say­ing t there was no need for peo­ple to "plac­ard" the Prime Min­is­ter's St Clair Of­fice. She added: "We will set up a sub-com­mit­tee of Cab­i­net and that com­mit­tee can then meet with those who think that there may be a dif­fer­ent way. (RKR)