PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, March 14 2015 – Opposition Leader, Dr Keith Rowley, urged Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to withdraw Trinidad and Tobago’s nomination of Planning Minister, Dr Bhoe Tewarie, for head of the 53-member Commonwealth, but instead to back Caribbean academic/diplomat, Sir Ronald Sanders.
Rowley said Tewarie has no diplomatic background and has no other Caricom country backing him (except TT), but that Sanders has the support of nine nations.
The Opposition Leader also scoffed at the Government’s nomination of academic Dr Hamid Ghany as head of the 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific Group, whom he alleged had been “summarily brushed aside as unsuitable” and whose nomination was allegedly “dead on arrival”.
Rowley alleged that the two nominations were proof of cronyism and nepotism by the Government, which he accused of putting square pegs in round holes.
He said Tewarie’s nomination has no chance of going forward, and so TT should instead back Sanders, “a quintessential Caribbean man”. He called on TT to withdraw Tewarie and to instead support a superior Caribbean candidate, so that in future when TT has to offer a quality candidate it will be able to get the support of other Caribbean nations. (Trinidad Newsday)
