Win­ston Dook­er­an, Con­gress of the Peo­ple leader and Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Tu­na­puna, says he is very priv­i­leged to be act­ing as prime min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go. Dook­er­an has been ap­point­ed to act for ten days by Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar who is on a trip to New York.

On his act­ing ap­point­ment, Dook­er­an said he felt "very priv­i­leged to have this op­por­tu­ni­ty for this time, to hold the fort, to keep the reins tight."

Dook­er­an was giv­en the op­por­tu­ni­ty to act on the sec­ond oc­ca­sion that Per­sad-Bisses­sar left T&T on of­fi­cial busi­ness.

On the first oc­ca­sion, when she at­tend­ed a Cari­com Heads of Gov­ern­ment meet­ing in Ja­maica, Mon­tego Bay, Per­sad-Bisses­sar was out of the coun­try from Ju­ly 4 and re­turned on Ju­ly 12. She ap­point­ed Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er to act as prime min­is­ter for nine days. The trip for Per­sad-Bisses­sar and an of­fi­cial team will cost tax­pay­ers some $380,000. There is al­so a "con­tin­gency fee" of US$4,000.