Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner has suggested that the Trinidad and Tobago government is deliberately suppressing a response to the budget by creating a blackout on several government websites.
In a news release Wednesday Warner said for most of Tuesday and "well into the night" several Government websites were inactive and had virtually shutdown.
"Numerous phone calls were made to my offices pointing to what was an apparent national shutdown of some key Government websites. The affected websites included those of the Ministries of Education, Energy, Housing, Labour, Finance and Legal Affairs," Warner said.
He added that the Internet shutdown is puzzling and suspicious since it came within hours after the presentation on the budget.
"That being the case, research personnel of the Opposition would have no doubt been actively viewing these sites in preparation for the Budget debate which commences on Friday.
"The sudden and inexplicable shutdown would have adversely affected these preparations. The shutdown of one website on occasion can be justified on the grounds of updates or web page repair but when more than five go virtually blank at the same time, it becomes incomprehensible," he said.
Warner is asking the Minister of Information to explain this untimely blackout. "He must clear the air on whether this was timed to interfere with the Opposition budget preparations. He must come clean on whether there were moves to sabotage the Opposition’s efforts and to stifle our response come Friday," Warner said.
He added that "nothing but a full and frank explanation would suffice. To remain mum on this issue would be contrary to the very philosophy of 2020 developmental status of which the Government boasts."
A check Wednesday morning revealed that all but one of the Internet sites mentioned by Warner is online. This blog was unable to get into the labour ministry site.
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