Michelle Loubon

Op­po­si­tion sen­a­tor Fitzger­ald Hinds says Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar should fire Jus­tice Min­is­ter Her­bert Vol­ney for his at­tack on Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie.

In his con­tri­bu­tion to the bud­get de­bate in the Sen­ate yes­ter­day, Hinds said the Peo­ple's Part­ner­ship, led by Per­sad-Bisses­sar, could have pre­sent­ed a $49 mil­lion bud­get to T&T be­cause they found the econ­o­my in good shape.

He said: "Un­em­ploy­ment was 5.3 per cent in June 2010. Un­em­ploy­ment was 9.37 per cent. To­day, in­fla­tion is 9.9 per cent. "PNM has spent more on sub­si­dis­ing than any gov­ern­ment...That is why you can have a bud­get for $49 bil­lion," he said.

Hinds al­so crit­i­cised the Gov­ern­ment, say­ing that for­mer po­lice com­mis­sion­er James Philbert had been hu­mil­i­at­ed. The Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion wrote to Philbert last month ask­ing him to demit of­fice–one month be­fore his con­tract was to ex­pire.