Trinidad and Tobago's attorney general is quitting after 18 months on the job. And a report in the Trinidad Express quotes sources as saying former attorney general John Jeremie will succeed her.News reports from Port of Spain say Bridgid Annisette-George is leaving cabinet for "personal reasons". She is expected to return to the family legal practice.
Jeremie has had a very close personal relationship with Prime Minister Patrick Manning, which has prompted questions about whether Manning is not forcing out Annisette-George in favour of someone with whom he is more comfortable.
In a news release Wednesday the leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Basdeo Panday asked whether Annisette-George is demitting office voluntarily or being forced out.
Panday said if media reports on the attorney general's departure are true then "one must wonder, why the sudden decision by the AG to quit the Cabinet and go back to private life. What happened?"
The opposition leader asked, "Is it that the AG was asked to do something and she has refused, so she is being moved out of the way to make room for someone who would be more complicit? Or has she done something to make her unpopular with the Prime Minister?”
Panday noted that with the Uff Inquiry nearing its end "there is public pressure for criminal proceedings to be initiated against top public officials and friends of the PNM." He suggested that the change is because the PNM has a history of ‘taking care of its own’ and it would not want these "massive scandals to be fully ventilated".
He said, "A dutiful and honest Attorney General would want to see these acts of corruption dealt with in the interest of the public and in the interest of justice.” Jeremie was a key player in the failed campaign to "persecute" former Chief Justice Sat Sharma and force him out of office in the run-up to the 2007 General Election.
Panday said Jeremie "has proven that he is prepared to go further than most people for the Prime Minister and the PNM.”
No comments:
Post a Comment