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President Anthony Carmona insisted today that he did inform Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley of his desire to meet National Security Minister Edmund Dillon before their contentious meeting
So how does that square with Rowley’s subsequent hiring of legal advice, via Martin Daly SC, to address the issue? And why did Carmona not deal with concerns that his mother-in-law, Savitri Seetaram-Singh, might have been—or still is—a paid member of staff at the Office of the President?
(Courtesy Allan V Crane/CA Images/Wired868)
The following is the press release from Fixin’ T&T:
FIXIN’ T&T notes that President Carmona did not speak to the issue of the alleged employment of his mother-in-law at President’s House and call on him to immediately do so.
Of even greater concern is the President’s assertion that his recent meeting with the Minister of National Security was convened with the consent and blessings of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley. This [statement was delivered] in the face the legal opinion sought by the Government on its constitutionality and the PM’s reported forwarding of same to the President. This scenario begs many questions including:
1) Does the Prime Minister have any recollection of the sequence of events leading up to that meeting? When exactly did he learn of it?
2) If President Carmona did in fact go directly to the Minister of National Security to request a meeting, did Minister Dillon then advise and/or seek the permission of the Prime Minister prior to attending? If no, why not?
3) Is this the first time that President Carmona, during his tenure, would have requested to meet with a Government Minister? Was there any precedent for this action?
While the President’s explanation of expenditure issues was comprehensive, procurement processes used should be further examined and the aforementioned matters urgently addressed.
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Fixin T&T’s mission is the realization of good governance to achieve healthy, holistic, and fulfilling lifestyles for all citizens through the study, promotion, and furtherance of strong democratic institutions; sound infrastructure; integrity in public and corporate affairs; and a culture of respect by all for the laws and regulations of the country to create a safe, secure, efficient and productive Trinidad & Tobago.
Sounds like permission was given to me.
“Dillon said Rowley told him to go ahead and ‘listen to what the President’ had to say”
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2016-09-29/dillon-admits-pm-was-dark-about-meeting-pres
Further, “Dillon confirmed he informed Rowley of the meeting with the President the day of the meeting. But Rowley said his advice to Dillon to ‘go and see what the President wanted,’ shouldn’t have been seen as licence for the meeting.”
http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2016-09-29/dillon-admits-pm-was-dark-about-meeting-pres
Im not sure how Rowley can tell people that he said something but it didnt mean what he said. That’s called lying.
Sounds like PNM out for Carmona. Its interesting to note, that while all this is going down the CSP programme is being discontinued in 22 different high crime areas in T&T, even after untold efforts and metircs of success and reductions of crime and violence in those areas.
Where is that coverage? Instead of long term sustainable projects to deal with crime and violence we are being told more guns and armoured vehicles is what we need.
Please dont take your eyes of the balls people. This isnt about Carmona, this about distractions.
I tend to listen to words a person use when they saying what they saying an the president choose the high legal terms road an his words were not comital he come out yesterday just for coming out an saying something sake avoiding some questions that were asked completely not to mention the poor sometimes in audible feed that emanated from his team lol this guy
MAURICE, Read the words i have Chosen…I disagree with your comments ..Smile.
Miguel A Bermudez ok
Bring on the lie detector test
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
Fixin my ass who does really listen to them
Adrian I’m sorry you are taking this personally. I really didn’t mean to use your comment as an affront on you. Sorry for that misconception. I was really trying to highlight the fact (and it is a fact) that there are some people who can look at the president’s actions and based solely on their political persuasion can find fault with him or think everything’s fine. I’m saying that if the public were having a discussion about say Noor Hassanali, whether he was PNM or UNC would never be part of the discussion because those past presidents were seen as politically neutral. This president appears to be a UNC president in the public’s eye and it’s not because he was appointed during the UNC term in office. It’s really not about yours or my political preference.
Oh really because you know me right I didn’t know you can read person’s mind the reason you are so angry with the president is simply because of his statements in relation to the Prime Minister “forgetting” about when they spoke about the National security meeting. However the world doesn’t revolve around your political preference until an investigation is done why would i jump to conclusions am i suppose to pick a side surely i can’t decide who is the culprit in the matter until the facts are on the board. You know what you said prob the worst Government was the PP guess what the PNM and the UNC are the same and another thing the PNM had all the answers when they were in the opposition how come now the country is in the state it is in oh right *because of the previous administration* after a year they can’t move on they are still playing the blame game. You are only implying and assuming because your judgement is clouded by your political preference.
has ” fixin T&T ” no problem with ” DADDYGATE ” ? just wondering !
TOO MUCH LIARS AT THE TOP.
why don’t you call on your PM to respond to the President utterances
Hes doing that today stay tuned
Adrian’s comment really brings home the fact that a president supposed to be “apolitical”. You not supposed to even consider whether a president is UNC or PNM because he supposed to appear politically neutral always. The fact that people commenting that criticizing the president shows political bias is an indication of how politically “un-neutral” he really is.
Abolish the position. Must have a more sensible alternative with checks and balances
I want to believe its not a question of anyone misleading anyone else. Perhaps what happened is having agreed to the meeting, the PM sought a legal opinion on the matter which was forwarded to the President. What is disconcerting is the leak of the meeting to the press.
The PM knew about the meeting and sought legal advice to advise the President that he has no authority to call a Minister to a meeting. It is a breach of a constitutional convention (quoting the opposition leader: a first year law student knows this). The office of the President is ceremonial which means that the office holds limited authority and no authority over any Minister. Another constitutional convention is that the President must not make political comments. We are in a constitutional crisis similar to when Mr Robinson refused to appoint losers some years ago or a President withholding asent to a bill. Do we have to put these conventions in Statutes to regulate the conduct of the President or abolish the position altogether (25 million saved)?
Fixin yourself how you arrive at that question, because Powers said so it is the gospel. Why you ain’t ask who was the contractor who renovated the Flagstaff accommodation before Powers moved in, how much it cost and the why was shoddy work done and if taxpayers got value for money
ALL PNM are LIARS
It’s clearly not the President who is misleading the nation.
Sometimes i wonder how can people be so politically bias to an extent that it makes them write a bunch of crap all the time embarrassing themselves.
I watched more of his speech on the news and I was even more pissed off. This despicable idiot is the worst president we have ever got. Maybe it’s a coincidence that he was appointed during the term of the worst government we ever had. Imagine 2 years after taking in an Ill-deserved 28K this /×@$$@$@ trying to tell us that clause applied to public servants and not the president. Also underlining the “suitable ” in the cause implying that his accommodation was not suitable so he was entitled to the 28K plus the Flagstaff accommodations. Common sense will tell you if the roof leaking and the living room flooding just tell them to fix it or find you a better place to live. 28K could have paid for some very upscale accommodation. As for that wine business with the labels I have to wonder if he so fraid people tief de alcohol how come he didn’t put labels on the Johnny and Ciroc as well. He had 2 extra days to come up with this crap.
Can’t make up ALL that CRAP in ONE day – YES – he needed two more days to give the nation this pile!
Lol. Like the line about the PM maybe forgetting that he consented to the meeting.
Lasana ..gn…send some SSFL scores Pl.Thanks ..standings also.
Working on it…
These are the scores:
(Wednesday 28 September)
San Juan North 4, St Benedict’s College 0 at Bourg Mulatresse;
St Anthony’s 5, Trinity College Moka 0 at Westmoorings;
QRC 1, Fatima College 2 at QRC;
Fyzabad Secondary 1, Shiva Boys HC 2 at Fyzabad;
East Mucurapo 3, Pleasantville 1 at Fatima College ground;
Naparima College 2, Presentation San F’do 0 at Lewis St, San F’do;
St Augustine 1, St Mary’s College 1 at St Augustine
Benedict’s loss againnnnnn…Lord
http://wired868.com/2016/09/28/lee-thal-naparima-strike-again-as-presentation-lose-ground-in-top-of-the-table-ssfl-clash/
If i ask me a question, i have not more but all control.
All four of those men deal with security. The country has pressing issues to deal with. Private and Confidentiality gone through the door. Does the President understand that he is the President..Comedy of Errors.Time to exhale.
He did a lot of talking about absolutely nothing
T&T need to keep the momentum or this will die like everything despicable we heard took place over for the last five years, an no one making jail. we really like it so in T&t
He now wanna change the conversation to make it about the prime minister… With kamla the kleptomaniac having his back
Birds of a feather., flock together, who hired friends and family. the trend. it’s not politically right for Marlene , but right for Kamla, (her sister who accompanied her on trips) and the now retired Head of the Permanent Secretary Reynold Cooper said nothing was wrong. Now the President wife family. All in the family. The goal post shifts conveniently in this banana Republic, my beloved country. whey Fixin T&T who run Marlene out of Town , you have larygintis? It must be same across the Board, if its wrong for one side it must be the same for the next side. That’s why successive governments steal with importunity, because the play the race card and citizens fall for the ploy and run with it by causing division. They all eat and drink together, party , fete and hang out. No fool me again
TRUST, is like glass, once broken it will never be the same again.
And the people’s trust in ALL politicians has been eroded long ago.
We have an all around communications problem in this country.
I did not hear the broadcast, but figured he sidestepped the real issues. Did he talk about the illegal receipt of the monthly $28,000 or did he hoodwink the nation again
Lol. The president only speaks about what he wants to. His address was not even a veiled attempt to account for or respond to the allegations swirling around him. All he ever does in his speeches is try to put people in their rightful place. He saving us money by ordering the wine directly from he “fren an dem”. Nothing about procurement, accounting, nepotism. When he speaks all I hear is “haul allyuh ….”
What is astounding is he’s a former judge and the highest office holder and seems to see nothing wrong in those actions! If the top is like that….what can you expect from the bottom
What is astomishing to me…the accounting staff are supposed to be public servants…who should be familiar with financial regulations. Inadequate staff is not an excuse.
Here, here! His contempt for the citizenry is complete.
He would do well to realise that it’s, in some quarters at any rate, mutual.
You could comment on that heat in one of the threads Jo Rhi. I agree with you on that though.
I’m tired of being fed up and tired of this place called T&T. It doesn’t matter who the office holder is you could never get them to account for anything. Btw Kamla found out the difference between family and relatives yet.
The president is seemingly stepping into the political games being played out at present. I don’t recall that the PM or any minister speaking about the meeting between the president and the Mr Dillon. So the PM seeking and sending legal advice to the president maybe just a way of telling the president where his powers ends
A full INDEPENDENT investigation, into the President, and the Office of the President needs to be done, forthwith.