Prime Minister instructs attorneys to sue opposition legislator

Prime Minister of Trinidad Dr. Keith Rowley has instructed his attorneys to sue a legislator with the main opposition United National Congress (UNC) for defamatory statements reportedly made at a UNC rally on Saturday.

In a statement, on Sunday, Rowley said he had taken note of “utterly vile and derogatory statements made by the candidate sanctioned on a national UNC platform.”

“These offensive statements are a continuation of the UNC’s campaign which specifically targeted the Honourable Prime Minister in the run-up to the 2015 General Election.

“There is absolutely no room in Trinidad and Tobago for statements which have sinister and divisive undertones and seek to describe the Prime Minister as having committed a heinous crime,” said Rowley.

Based on this, Rowley has instructed his attorneys to sue Devon Thomas, the candidate for Febeau/Bourg Mulatresse as soon as the Local Government Elections have concluded.

The Prime Minister issued the instructions ahead of Monday’s Local Government poll in which over 1.07 million citizens will vote for representatives for 139 Local Government districts. 

A to­tal of 339 candidates from seven political parties, including eight independents, are contesting the polls.

The PNM and Opposition are fielding full slates of 139 each. 

While other parties – The Con­gress of the Peo­ple, Movement for Social Justice, Movement for National Development, Port-of-Spain Peoples’ Mov­ment (PPM) and National Transformation Party are contesting only in certain areas. (CMC)