These Daily COVID-19 Media Updates In Trinidad

The Editor:
As usual, I watched the Trinidad and Tobago’s government’s live media update on COVID-19 (17/4/2020). It is becoming clearer, every day, that this 10 a.m. daily broadcast is partly a political campaign.

The almost two-hour repetition is turning me, and other people, off. Every day, Health Minister, Terrence Deyalsingh, and his cast of government Ministers, spend a lot of time throwing picong, darts, and overt and covert remarks at the Opposition United National Congress (UNC). Friday was the worst.

Attorney-General, Faris Al Rawi, repeatedly attacked Anand Ramlogan, SC, and Gerald Ramdeen for filing cases in the High Court. He said they are wasting the court’s time and resources.

Al Rawi, but as attorneys, they have a constitutional right to do that! That is their profession. If they lose, they have to pay legal costs and damages. How many millions of dollars have YOU cost taxpayers, by losing cases against Ramlogan, right up to the Privy Council in the UK?

Al Rawi also described these two attorneys as politicians and political activists. Are you not one, Al Rawi? Are you not the People’s National Movement (PNM) Member of Parliament (MP) for San Fernando West?

In his political campaigning, Al Rawi went on to announce that all the PNM constituency offices are open to serve the public, but some of the UNC offices are closed, because their MPs are out of the country. Is that why the borders were closed and was conveniently re-opened for the Venezuelan Vice President?

Al Rawi kept boasting, ad nauseam, that since he became the A-G in “this government”, he did this, and did that, and the other. Big, big ego. Sigh…

The media should have asked the government Ministers the following questions:
(1) Why is the Jimmy Aboud fabric store allowed to open, when it is not an essential service?
(2) Is taxpayers’ money being spent to distribute hampers in PNM party bags?
(3) Were procurement and tendering procedures followed, in the purchase of the freight containers for court hearings?
(4) Why did attorney Ramlogan have to sue your government for not allowing blogger, Devant Mahraj, to attend press conferences?
(5) Does Health Minister Deyalsingh owe a known patient an apology, for publicly describing his delirium as a “freak show”?
and (6) Why did the government have to borrow US $50 million, from the Andean Development Bank, for air and sea infrastructure at this time of COVID-19? But all construction projects have stopped following social distancing guidelines.

I am getting sick of these politicians on their soap boxes on TV, every day. You can’t trust these actors. You can’t even trust COVID-19 results at Caura hospital these days.

Sincerely,
Dr Kumar Mahabir,
San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago