Although Congress of the People (COP) leader Prakash Ramadhar called his wife and wept on Monday after the Keith Rowley e-mails were revealed in Parliament, Ramadhar yesterday said he was deeply encouraged that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had said the allegations in the e-mails were fabricated.
Speaking during yesterday’s no-confidence motion debate in Parliament, Ramadhar said he had been depressed and had spent a restless night on Monday after PNM leader Rowley’s revelations of the e-mails and their alleged contents. Ramadhar said after this was revealed, he left the chamber, called his wife and wept. He said: “Not because of any fear other than what happened in this House on Monday. If it is the allegations are true, it is of the most heinous and grave nature. If it is not, that is equally heinous and grave.”
He said T&T will never be the same after the revelation, since there will always be those in society who will be divided over this. “Is this the cheap way we do things in T&T?” he asked of the Opposition’s move. “The COP’s position is, we need to know what the truth is. We make no pronouncement. But I am deeply encouraged when the Prime Minister made it very clear that all these allegations are fabrications.”
Ramadhar said if Rowley believed the e-mails were serious, important and real documents, then he must have appreciated immediately that they would have been obtained in breach of the Interception of Communication 2010 law. He said obtaining such material illegally carries a penalty of a $250,00 fine and three years’ jail time.
Ramadhar said the allegations were most serious, including conspiracy to murder a reporter and an attack on the judiciary—the two protectors of T&T’s democracy. He said if Rowley had believed the matter to be true and had held it for six months—as Rowley had said—then the PNM leader was guilty of not carrying out his duty to the people as a high public officer. “If it was kept in his bosom or back pocket or wherever and some harm had come to a member of the free press, what would he have done about that?” Ramadhar asked.
“If actions had been taken to undermine the judiciary, what would he have done as well?” Ramadhar said Rowley had not said what he had done to investigate the e-mails, which he described as “horrific allegations.” Querying the basis for the e-mails, Ramadhar said if they were false, it would damage the psyche of the public. He said the current situation should mark a turning point in how politics was conducted in T&T.