Shameless! This was how Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and deputy leader Roodal Moonilal described the award of senior counsel to President Christine Kangaloo’s husband and her brother.
And Moonilal has called on SC awardee, Independent Senator Anthony Vieira, to consider if he should resign from the Senate, since an Independent senator is supposed to be a critic of the Government and impartial.
Both slammed the appointments as they spoke at last night’s United National Congress Monday Night Report in Fyzabad.
Persad-Bissessar, who noted Moonilal said the President is giving her husband ‘silk,’ added, “That’s bad enough - (but) she’s giving the brother ‘Silk’ too, man! Can you believe it? Shameless people!
“We warned that this President would be a puppet, but we didn’t know she was going to be a puppet for her own family! We thought she’d be the PNM puppet —which of course she is also— now she’s the puppet of her family!”
Persad-Bissessar, who read a list of legal fees from a report in last Sunday’s Guardian, noted the report included that Kerwyn Garcia (the President’s husband) had collected $14 million and Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith & Morgan (where the President’s brother Colin was a partner since 2000) had collected $23 million.
“... They’re just totally shameless! Will the President’s husband and brother continue getting millions in dollars in state briefs?” she asked.
Persad-Bissessar said she’ll also be calling on Caricom heads and the Barbados government to initiate a full public inquiry into the “illegal abduction” of firearms dealer Brent Thomas. She said she sent a letter to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on this yesterday. Moonilal, who said he was casting no aspersions on the SC awardees, expressed concern about the perception of nepotism arising from the ‘Silk’ for the President’s husband and brother.
He said it was strange that all the lawyers in People’s National Movement’s 2015 election petition got ‘silk’ and that in former president Paula-Mae Weekes’ term, no one was awarded ‘Silk’.
He added, “But as soon as this new President entered – and we’d raised issues if she was fit for the job – among her first tasks, she give her husband and brother ‘silk’! I’m surprised she didn’t give her sister-in-law and the dog too.”
Warning that the issue raises the perception of nepotism and favouritism, Moonilal said in the People’s Partnership government, a spouse or their children couldn’t be appointed to a board.
“But today, the First Gentleman (President’s husband) is a recipient and her brother too! I surprised they didn’t give Noel Garcia too! But they’re opening a dangerous door by doing things like that!”
Moonilal said Vieira, whose job is to be a critic of the Government, was given what was tantamount to an “award bestowed by the PM’s decision.” He felt it was unconscionable that the Cabinet can give ‘silk’ to someone who is an independent senator.
Calling for Vieira to reconsider if he should now resign from the Senate, Moonilal questioned if Vieira was expected to be independent and impartial.
MP Saddam Hosein also took issue with the process of selecting senior counsel, saying under the current format, it’s ultimately with the Cabinet.
He noted that in the PP government’s tenure when SCs were appointed, there was outrage, and the Law Association said the process needed reforming. He said a 2015 LATT Council report suggested this and Attorney General Reginald Armour – who was with LATT then – called for that, yet Armour presided over yesterday’s SC appointments.
“The PNM’s shameless! Hypocrisy!” Hosein added.
Persad-Bissessar said she was told Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley returned from Barbados but was here briefly and was “going somewhere else” again. Moonilal also noted that the Police Commissioner’s birthday is Monday and her contract will have to be extended by Government. Persad-Bissessar questioned if she could be independent.