Former head of the public service, Reginald Dumas, says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley should be paid for the period of his suspension from Parliament while serving as Opposition Leader in 2015.
He said so yesterday days after Rowley told a meeting of the PNM’s St Joseph constituency: “I have told my lawyer to tell the Parliament I want my money. I don’t like my money to sleep out.”
The former public service head in an interview yesterday said he was not aware of any law that prevents a suspended MP from being paid his salary.
Dumas said teachers, police officers and other workers “were put on suspension with full pay.”
He then asked: “How come you could have a policeman, a public servant or a teacher on suspension with full pay but you have an MP who does not receive his or her salary while on suspension?”
He said that just did not make any sense, adding: “There is no law that says a suspended MP should not receive his or her full salary.”
Rowley told the meeting that during his period of suspension when he was Opposition Leader, he had official consultations with President Anthony Carmona.
Dumas said that was another reason why Rowley should be paid his salary.
Rowley was suspended for one month after he spoke about the so-called emailgate scandal in Parliament in May 2015.
That matter, which, according to reports, was still being investigated by police, stemmed from “transcripts” of a conversation allegedly involving senior Cabinet ministers, including then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and then attorney general Anand Ramlogan.