Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says all MPs received information that there was a Government motion to be debated during last Friday’s sitting of Parliament. She questioned if the five Opposition MPs who were absent during the motion knew how to read.
“Everyone got a supplemental order paper for Parliament stating the Government motion to be debated. Maybe if they read it they would have known. I can’t understand how someone would not know that they have to read their order papers. It’s unbelievable,” she said in a statement.
“Further, if we had our 19 MPs, the PNM would not have been able to adjourn the Parliament because the vote to adjourn would have deadlocked 19 to 19. So we would have forced a vote on the motion and defeated the PNM. It’s pretty convenient they all left before the vote on a day the PNM didn’t have numbers to pass a motion,” Persad-Bissessar said.
She added, “It is what it is. All they achieved by leaving and not being present to vote was to help the PNM suppress the Auditor General’s 2023 report. It’s very unfair to our UNC supporters and citizens.
“I guess it’s ‘Blame Kamla’ again because some didn’t know how to read their order paper and can’t show up for work—I suppose that’s my fault. Personal integrity is showing up to work like the hundreds of thousands of honest hardworking citizens who do that every day. It’s not just about spouting glib words and cliches,” she stressed.