Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the head of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi is on the chopping block, as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley gets set to reshuffle his Cabinet once again.
Persad-Bissessar was speaking at the United National Congress public meeting at the Aranguez Community Centre on Monday.
Persad-Bissessar spoke primarily about the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) bill which she claimed would take away the rights of citizens and freedom of speech if certain clauses were not amended.
Stating that the bill was dangerous, Persad-Bissessar said the Government was now on its “back foot” after three of nine Independent Senators had failed to attend a meeting with the AG on Monday, which demonstrated that they were prepared to stand up for what they felt was right.
“We felt it was totally inappropriate for Independent senators to come to a meeting with the Attorney General. At the moment they (Independent Senators) are the guardian of the public’s interest with respect to the bill.”
Persad-Bissessar warned supporters not to trust Al-Rawi.
“In any other country an AG who did what he did would have some kind of sense to resign or his leader should fire him. But not here. They bold face and brass face.”
She said every citizen was now a target with the bill, including media workers.
“I am hearing from the grapevine, in Trinidad, everything is rumour, I am hearing that we are on the eve of a reshuffle of the members of the Cabinet of the Rowley Government.”
She said given all the missteps and mistakes taking place in the PNM, a reshuffle was imminent.
“And what I am hearing is the first head on the political block is, guess who? It’s the Attorney General. If that is not true, we are of the view that he should be removed as Attorney General for his role in the Malcolm Jones affair, for his role in the SSA bill, for his role in ArcelorMittal. There are so many others that we can lay on his doorstep. So when they say political heads must roll, one of those has to be that of the honourable and eloquent Attorney General of T&T.”
Following the firing of Marlene McDonald as housing minister in March, Rowley had his first Cabinet reshuffle.
She also called on party members to get on social media and radio stations to condemn the bill.
“Don’t let those people take you down.”
Persad-Bissessar said after Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh spoke about the abortion issue, Rowley “boof “ him, stating that he was not speaking for the Government.
She said the same thing happened with Al-Rawi after he commented about the decriminalisation of marijuana. Persad-Bissessar also questioned who was running the country.
Al-Rawi did not respond to a text message yesterday.