Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to "cease and desist" from signing the Maritime Boundary Delimitation Treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada.Manning and his Grenadian counterpart Tillman Thomas are expected to sign the Treaty in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday.
"This country is preparing for a General Election on May 24th and Mr. Manning is continuing as if it is business as usual, although there is strong opposition and concerns over the Treaty that is to be signed between both countries," the leader of the United National Congress said in a media release.
She added the Prime Minister should not be committing the people of Trinidad and Tobago to any regional or international treaties at this time and suggested that Manning should delay the signing "until the new Government is able to review this Treaty in consultation of the people."
Persad-Bissessar said, "The people have a right to decide how the wealth of this country is to be utilised foremost of which is the basic services which have been denied by this Government."
She said the main Opposition Party in Grenada led by former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell also voiced its concerns about the treaty and has called on all Grenadians to wear black to demonstrate their objection to the signing of the treaty.
She said the New National Party (NNP) "has raised strong objections to the planned signing and has accused the 21 month-old National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration of entering into the maritime talks...without complete knowledge of the area’s oil and gas potential."
She said the opposition party has made it clear that it will support the treaty only if the government postpones Wednesday’s signing to give sufficient time for consultation.
1 comment:
Kamla should be careful using Keith Mitchell to back her up. Mitchell's main point and argument against the current Grenadian administration is that by agreeing to this treaty, the NDC government has sold Grenada out to Manning and TnT. In other words, Mitchell is arguing that the current treaty is bad for Grenada and will end up benefiting not Grenada but Trinidad and Tobago. That is why he is calling for the treaty not to be signed. I would think that is NOT what Kamla had in mind when she called on Manning to postpone signing the treaty. But by highlighting Mitchell's opposition to the treaty as a way to validate her opposition to it, she is by implication stating that she agrees with Mitchell, that Grenada got a raw deal, and that, in effect, she as PM of TnT would re-negotiate a better deal for Grenada (because, after all, that is what Mitchell claims he wants). To be honest, I don't even think she fully read what Mitchell said. She merely read a headline.
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