Jesse Ramdeo

The Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Barataria/San Juan, Sad­dam Ho­sein, has crit­i­cised Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s han­dling of his po­ten­tial res­ig­na­tion, call­ing it a "po­lit­i­cal gim­mick" and warn­ing of its se­ri­ous im­pli­ca­tions for the coun­try.

Dur­ing a me­dia brief­ing to­day, Ho­sein ac­cused Dr Row­ley of treat­ing the mat­ter as if he were sim­ply "go­ing on hol­i­day," rather than recog­nis­ing the far-reach­ing con­se­quences of his de­par­ture.

Ho­sein said the Prime Min­is­ter can­not treat the is­sue as a per­son­al de­ci­sion that he can make at will. He ar­gued the un­cer­tain­ty could dis­rupt trade, pol­i­cy de­ci­sions, and leg­isla­tive mat­ters.

His com­ments come amid grow­ing spec­u­la­tion about in­ter­nal dis­cord with­in the rul­ing Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM). "There ap­pears to be a lead­er­ship cri­sis in the PNM," Ho­sein said, point­ing out that the Cab­i­net seems di­vid­ed on key is­sues.

Yes­ter­day, when asked about his last day in of­fice, Row­ley sim­ply re­spond­ed, “Not yet,” be­fore get­ting in­to his ve­hi­cle and leav­ing.

Row­ley was at­tend­ing the sod-turn­ing cer­e­mo­ny for the Nu­trim­ix An­i­mal Feed and Pet Food Plant in Point Lisas yes­ter­day.