Rowley accuses Kamla of making ‘mischief’ about his foreign travels

Senior Political Reporter

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has labelled himself the “least travelled Caricom Prime Minister,” as he bashed the Opposition Leader for making “mischief” about his travels.

The Prime Minister is not attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Instead, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne is leading T&T’s delegation to the meeting, where he delivered a statement on behalf of T&T yesterday. Next month, Rowley will lead T&T’s mission to the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Samoa. He confirmed this yesterday when contacted on whether he’d be attending the current “High level Week” of activities at the 79th session of the UNGA in New York.

However, Rowley slammed Persad-Bissessar for “making an issue of how many times I, as Prime Minister, have travelled abroad.” Alleging and accusing her of “mischief,” Rowley said, “She even took time to actually count the number of days, to be able to report that in nine years, I was away for 372 days (she says). “As Prime Minister, there are very many occasions that I am required to go outside the country to conduct national business. Most of these occasions are on the calendar by prior arrangements and others are initiated by circumstances which initiate various meetings, etc. I have been very selective on which meetings I attend based on the agenda of the specific meeting or other considerations.”

He said even as Persad-Bissessar spoke about his travel, “it is she and Rodney Charles who at other times chastise me for not attending COP meetings. I have only attended two such meetings. With respect to Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, I’ve only attended two of those. With respect to the annual UN General Assembly, I have attended only two of those.”

He added, “As an undisputed fact, I am probably the least travelled Caricom Prime Minister. I usually have the Foreign Minister represent Trinidad and Tobago on many of these occasions where I could have taken the opportunity to travel. Such is the case at this present time, where Minister Browne is leading our delegation in New York.”

“Next month, I lead our delegation to the Commonwealth Heads Meeting in Samoa, largely because at this coming meeting (second since COVID), I did not attend the last one in Africa. There is an important matter of the election of a new head of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth and all Caricom votes are required on this occasion,” the PM added.

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