Trinidad's opposition leader suspended from parliament

Just six weeks before the end of the Trinidad & Tobago government's five-year term in parliament, Leader of Opposition Keith Rowley has been suspended following a marathon session.

The genesis of the censure motion lay in alleged emailgate revelations in May 2013 that Rowley made in parliament charging Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, a person of Indian origin, and senior members of her cabinet with involvement in a multi-pronged conspiracy.

The accusations included alleged dilution of Section 34 of the Indictable Offences Act with an aim to offset corruption charges against the ruling People's Partnership coalition's financiers; a plot to harm a newspaper reporter; and bug the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

This is the first time since independence in August 1962 that any leader of opposition has been censured and suspended from parliament. The present session of the 10th parliament ends on June 17, and the prime minister has until September 17 to call elections for the 41-seat House of Representatives.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has refuted claims by the opposition that there was a connection in the issues raised in the emailgate which Rowley read in parliament in May 2013.

House leader Roodal Moonilal said the walkout by the opposition members on Wednesday was "a disrespect to parliament, to the people and a disrespect to their constituents who elected them".

"They were elected to represent constituents in debates on motions," he said

Trinidad and Tobago and India are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

This oil rich-country is celebrating its 170th Indian Arrival Day on May 30, the day when East Indian immigrants first landed here to work on farms. Over 148,000 East Indians came here during the period 1845 to 1917 to work as agricultural labour and to enhance the economic development of the then British colony.

(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com)