COP chairman says party committed to PP, praises PM for SIA stand

The chairman of the Congress of the People (COP) said on television Monday there seems to be a deliberate plot show that his leader, Winston Dookeran, is the one who doesn't want to pay Clico policyholders and investors.

Toney noted that Clico stakeholders have already been paid $7 billion and now they are demanding another $20 billion. He said it is unfair to focus on the needs of a group of about 15,000 policyholders when there are over one million people whose needs must also be met.

Toney also commented on other issues, including the COP's position on the Fazeer Mohammed affair. He said the COP executive was "uncomfortable" with the statements given by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as well as CNMG interim CEO Ken Ali.

"In the circumstances we felt that the gentleman's removal from his position as a talk show host was not done in the spirit and along the lines of good governance that we espoused and preached to the national community during the election campaign and so in these circumstances we felt that we had to let the national community know that we were uncomfortable with it," he said.
 
On another matter - the exposure of the illegal wiretapping by the Security Intelligence Agency - the COP chairman praised the Prime Minister.

He also said COP remains committed to the People's Partnership and to deepening its ties with its coalition partners. However he explained that the party remains an individual unit in the group and will continue to build itself and grow.