STUART YOUNG MUST STOP TRYING TO DISTRACT US FROM HIS INCOMPETENCE

"In his desperation to hide his possible misconduct, Minister Young evades the questions posed by Mrs. Persad-Bissessar by referring to legally locked down borders. The country needs to know, what law empowers him – and only him – to grant exemptions which thousands of our citizens stranded abroad have been begging for, and which he has been awarding with such blatant discrimination."

Minister Stuart Young’s juvenile and childish response confirms both his incompetence, dangerousness and why this Motion of No-Confidence brought by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is absolutely needed.

Stuart Young has been inflicted on the citizens of this country at a time when the people of Trinidad and Tobago face unparalleled crises of Covid-19 lockdowns, Venezuelan migrants and refugees. We could not have had a worse, more inept, more ill-suited person in charge. He has consistently shown himself to be petty, juvenile, unskilled and out of his league, leaving our citizens in serious danger, both here and abroad.

In trying to distract from the Opposition Leader’s exposure of his incompetence, Minister Young arrogantly disrespects the Leader of the Opposition, who represents over 309,000 citizens. Yet the only relevance Stuart Young has achieved as Minister is setting a national record for his 57 recusals from Cabinet meetings, while his family members secured million-dollar contracts from the PNM Government.

In his desperation to hide his possible misconduct, Minister Young evades the questions posed by Mrs. Persad-Bissessar by referring to legally locked down borders. The country needs to know, what law empowers him – and only him – to grant exemptions which thousands of our citizens stranded abroad have been begging for, and which he has been awarding with such blatant discrimination.

Minister Young has been a failure as a public official. The UNC will meet him in the political Gayelle, the pavement and the Parliament, where he will have to face the music whether he likes it or not. He MUST be held to account.

-END-

Dr. Kirk Meighoo

Public Relations Officer

757-3489

OPPOSITION FILES MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE IN MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY, STUART YOUNG

Today I filed a motion of no confidence in the Minister of National Security, Stuart Young.

Mr. Young’s failure to faithfully discharge his duties to the people of this nation as their Minister of National Security, has compelled the Opposition to take action.

Since his appointment as Minister of National Security, Minister Young has been responsible for one disaster after another. These include the chaotic and poorly conceived migrant registration policy, the rapid deterioration of security of our national borders, and the secret award of private security contracts.

The confused and muddled manner in which Minister Young continues to preside over the Government's exemption process represents a new low for himself. The necessity of this motion is underscored by the draconian and authoritarian decision to keep our borders closed to citizens, leaving tens of thousands of nationals stranded abroad and making Trinidad and Tobago the only nation in the entire world where nationals require an exemption directly from a Government Minister to return home. This Ministerial authoritarianism is unacceptable and unconstitutional.

The manner in which the exemption process has also been conducted is evidently riddled with discrimination, inequality and unfairness. As we have observed over the past few months, many citizens have been inexplicably delayed and given the runaround by the Minister, while close family members of the PNM administration seem to experience no problem with securing exemptions.

Additionally, the influx of Venezuelan migrants has been allowed to persist with no immediate attention placed on border management, even as Venezuelan pirates have been advertising their trips to and from Trinidad openly on social media. We charge that Stuart Young has sabotaged our nation’s border security by preventing the use of multiple air and naval assets because they were purchased under a UNC-led Government.

The lack of proper border security has allowed a growing human- and weapons-trafficking network to flourish with the effects further crippling our nation.

Mr. Stuart Young has proven himself to be the most incompetent, ineffective - even bordering on dangerous - Minister of National Security to ever hold office. Every day he remains in office is a further threat to our safety and security as citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.

A full case will be presented in the Parliament outlining every detail and every instance where he has placed the security and reputation of our nation at risk.

All 19 Opposition Members Parliament stand firmly in support of this motion given the turmoil and grave danger our constituents and, by extension, all citizens face on a daily basis. For the sake of our national well-being, we pray that our colleagues on the Government side will see Mr Young for what he truly is – a clear and present danger to the national security of Trinidad and Tobago.

--END--

The Star Team last night claimed victory in the UNC’s internal polls, there was a clear trend that the Star slate was going to win when the official results came in.

Leadership challenger Vasant Bharath conceded.

We congratulate the Star Team of candidates, and wish them all success during their term of office.

#StarTeam #UNCInternals

STATEMENT ON FAKE UNC LETTER

6 December 2020

It has come to my attention that a letter purporting to have been drafted by the General Secretary of the UNC claiming that an accommodation has been reached between myself and my opponent for Political Leader, Mr. Vasant Bharath, is currently being circulated on social media.

This letter is completely FAKE and appears to be created by persons attempting to cause confusion among the membership of the UNC who are heading out to the polls today.

I state firmly that there has been no accommodation between myself and Mr. Vasant Bharath and as such, it is the duty of the members to vote for the persons they believe are best qualified to fill the positions on the National Executive.

This letter is nothing more than a last minute distraction meant to create anxiety in the minds of our members in the hopes that Mr. Bharath might gain a few more votes.

It is my view that the UNC membership is, and always has been, savvy enough to ignore these types of diversionary tactics.

At the end of the day, I expect that my slate will emerge victorious despite the petty games and underhanded tactics being utilised by my opponents.

I urge our UNC members to go out and Vote for the STAR team, and re-elect me, Kamla Persad Bissessar, as your Political Leader, and together we will continue the hard work and the journey back into government.

That being said, I also ask that persons cease and desist from publishing or sharing of this fake letter and I reserve the right to engage legal pursuits against any entity caught doing so.

END

Members of United National Congress have voted in the National Executive election, and the Lotus Team accepts their decision.

We congratulate the Star Team of candidates, led by incumbent Ms. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and wish them all success during their term of office.

We offer to be of assistance in the urgent and extensive exercise of rebuilding and renewing the UNC.

I gratefully thank all party members who voted for the Lotus Team and all those who worked tirelessly on the ground to make the changes that we all know are necessary.

We are honoured and humbled by your support.

I am also extremely proud of the team members that I led. I could not have asked for more and I could not have gotten more, both in terms of commitment and genuine hard work.

I also express appreciation for the generous endorsement and activism of former Members of Parliament, Senators, National Executive members, stalwarts and campaigners.

But in acknowledging the announced results of the election, we note that there were widespread irregularities, just as we had feared and to which we had alerted the national community.

Scores of people whose names were not on the revised list of electors were permitted to vote at several polling stations.

Several lifetime members were debarred from exercising their franchise.

In one case, a veteran party operative – who had previously served as presiding officer in one of the houses of Parliament – brought in several non-financial members who were permitted to cast their ballots.

In some cases, prominent and active campaigners for the Star Team performed as election officers, including as Presiding Officers.

Revised lists of electors were provided only to candidates and activists of the Star Team.

There were many cases of voters being verbally abused, bullied and intimidated at polling stations.

At least two Members of Parliament were seen openly campaigning among members who were lined up to cast their votes.

Paraphernalia of the Start Team were distributed within the precincts of some polling stations.

There are several other documented examples of electoral irregularities.

It is most ironic that these gross abnormalities took place at the hands of an incumbent Political Leader who had lobbied for independent observers for the August 10 general election.

Further, the leader had declined to concede defeat in the general election and had claimed for several days that there were electoral irregularities.

For weeks before the election, Team Lotus had publicly complained about the absence of transparency and accountability in the electoral process.

Our documented objections were never addressed.

With the electoral process behind us, I urge all party members not to engage in recriminations.

Antagonism and reproach would only harm an organisation that requires the commitment and united purpose of all its human resources in order to displace the failed PNM at the next general election.

I implore Ms. Persad-Bissessar to embrace and integrate all party supporters and sympathisers in the essential organisational restructuring that is required if the UNC is to become a viable political force.

A major initial assignment should be to determine why there is such apathy among members, as evidenced by the very low voter turnout.

It is instructive that 19 UNC Members of Parliament could only motivate a tiny minority of members to participate in the electoral process.

A first measure in removing the PNM from national office must be to inspire the UNC’s ground troops to the party’s cause.

On behalf of the Lotus Team, I again thank all our supporters, and I extend best wishes to the new National Executive of the UNC.

Vasant V Bharath

On the Removal of Taxes on Computers and other IT Devices.

It is a welcoming gesture that the Minister of Finance saw the merit within the suggestion of removing taxes on laptops, computers, and other IT devices in light of COVID-19 and the new normal we have had to adapt to.

Thankfully, the Govt seems to have finally come to the realization that the online tax and other taxes on tech devices are burdensome on consumers.

The question now is, how long will this exemption last for? We suggested in our National Economic Transformation Plan the complete permanent removal of the online tax and with the new normal with COVID-19, I am sure the Government sees the applicability of this and the annoyance the online tax has been to the public.

Despite the lack of planning in the beginning, if the Government accepts suggestions from the Opposition who represent the second-largest number of voters in the country, we will be in a much better situation just as many thousands are rejoicing with the removal of taxes on IT devices.

What we should ask ourselves now is where do we go?

We again call for the complete scrapping of the Online tax and the reinstatement of a laptop programme for those who still may not be able to afford it.

My party has also begun gathering donations through MP offices to donate laptops to special needs children identified within the constituencies we currently represent.

I am again calling on the Government to restart a laptop programme initiative and to completely scrap the online tax.

END.