Former prime minister Basdeo Panday says during his years as opposition leader he was not afforded any state security detail as the People’s National Movement public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi claims.
In a brief interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Panday said while he could not recall the exact security arrangements during his years in politics he remembered only one police officer being stationed at the Office of the Opposition Leader.
He added: “Not that I recall. As opposition leader I used to drive up from San Fernando and drive back down and I didn’t have police following me.
“There would have been a bit of a police presence at the Office of the Opposition Leader but when I was coming home I would be going home alone.”
At a PNM public meeting at Skiffle’s panyard, San Fernando, on Wednesday night, Al-Rawi said UNC deputy political leader Dr Roodal Moonilal lied about his Government being the first ever to provide state security for an opposition leader.
Security around Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has been beefed up following reports of a hit on his life. Rowley has claimed that the Government was behind the plot.
Standing in defence of his political leader, Al-Rawi said the People’s Partnership only created history by being the first government to strip an opposition leader of his or her security details. He said that came before Rowley learned of a $15 million hit on his life.
During a meeting at his Oropouche East constituency office on Monday, Moonilal labelled Rowley assassination claims as irresponsible and reckless, saying it had created a bad image for the country.
He said while Rowley was trying to drag Government into his allegations, the same Government had afforded State security to Rowley, something no other opposition leader ever got.
Responding to Moonilal’s claims, Al-Rawi said: “He said to T&T, watching an assassination plot against the leader of the opposition, weeks after the jailbreak, weeks after murders and killings around T&T that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the first Prime Minister to make sure that the Leader of the Opposition got security for the first time ever.
“He said they have State police. He said it is for the first time ever, you ever hear lie that is lie. That man is shameless you know. He will stand with a straight face and lie like there is no tomorrow.
‘Every leader of the opposition and Dr Moonilal should know this, starting with Kamla Persad-Bissessar as leader of the opposition, starting with Basdeo Panday as leader of the opposition and he knows that Patrick Manning when he was leader of the Opposition, every last one of them had state security.
“The first government ever to take away state security was Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s Government and first thing she did when she came into power was to remove Dr Rowley’s security and the Commissioner of Police said to put it back.”
Al-Rawi said it was former National Security Minister Gary Griffith who took a stand against this injustice and rectified it.