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A confident Prime Minister said he and the government will be going to the Parliament on Wednesday morning to pass local government reform legislation. Debate is set to begin at 10 am.
He said this has been more than four decades in the making and, in spite of a signal from the Opposition they will not support the legislation, Government has the majority vote to sway it in their favour.
“We will pass the legislation because we have the majority in the Parliament to do so. Then we will put in place, the management structure that the legislator requires to make local government become that thing which we hankered after for years. He said he was not expecting support from “those who support nothing in the Parliament because it is in the interest of the people to TT to get this done now.
“If there are those who do not agree, we will respect their point of view. But it is not the minority who determines what happens in this democracy. It is the majority and you respect the position of the minority.”
Addressing a live audience at a political meeting of the People’s National Movement (PNM) at Pleasantville Community Centre, San Fernando on Tuesday evening, Rowley said it was a part of the late prime minister Patrick Manning’s 2020 vision for TT.
Leader of Government Business in House, Camille Robinson-Regis will introduce the bill.
Rowley defended newly-installed Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Faris Al-Rawi, who also spoke at the meeting, saying his decision to move him from the Office of the Attorney General is not a demotion as said by some, but for him to lead the local government reform.
“It signals a seriousness that we are going to get it done now.”
He also thanked Clarence Rambharat who was in attendance for his service to country. Rambharat resigned as a senator and Minister of Agriculture. Rowley said while his loss is a big blow to the administration, family came first.
Rowley noted that nothing has changed in local government since the last election and there is one due at year’s end.
He said the Opposition is obsessed with local government election, rather than serving the people to bring improvement to the quality of their lives.
“We do these things so we can improve on what exists. That is what progress is all about.”
After the passage of the legislation, Rowley said Diego Martin will soon become a borough.
The next one, he said, would be Siparia because the UNC-led corporation has already voted for it.
He explained, “When the leader (of the Opposition) found out that was going to happen, you know they now turn around and say they don’t want to be a borough?
“Having voted for it, in the spirit of understanding that they would benefit from having their status lifted and that we are going to put new management structures in place with the local government reform exercise, all of a sudden, like everything else, they will not agree.
“But Siparia, we know that the majority of people want to progress. It has nothing to do with who is your MP, it has to do with who is your government.”
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