The Opposition is committed to passage of good FATCA legislation and remains prepared and anxious for resumption of debate, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissesar said yesterday.
She said so in a response to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s earlier media briefing, where he accused the Opposition of “obfuscating and obstructuring” the necessary legislation for the TT-US Foreign Account Compliance agreement.
The legislation—the Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill—remains hanging after last Friday’s failure of debate on it.
In a statement soon after, Persad-Bissessar in turn accused Rowley of obfuscating the issue and misrepresenting the Opposition’s position.
“The hour-long ramble on FATCA by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was both ill-conceived and regrettable,” she said.
“In each of our presentations, I recommended the establishment of a Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament to critically examine the relevant legislation, arrive at consensus and to obtain passage of the Bill within the stipulated period.
“Even in the midst of my ejection from the House of Representatives last Friday, the Opposition remained committed to continuing debate with a view to resolving policy differences and approving the Bill.
“Dr Rowley’s verbose statement was another step in obfuscation in a matter that would have been resolved if his Government had accepted the Opposition’s proposal 18 days ago for the setting up of a JSC.
“In his usual style, he raised a number of red herrings also meant to distract from the real issues of the day and the upcoming 2016-17 national budget,” the statement said. She said the Opposition remained committed to passage of good FATCA legislation and to T&T honouring its international obligations in a timely manner.
Rowley had also singled out United National Congress MP Roodal Moonilal for criticism, saying he (Moonilal) “deliberately” challenged the Speaker last Friday on a vote and was evicted from the session.
“Job stress is clearly getting to the Prime Minister and other ministers who, after one year, are suffering fatigue. The population is concerned about his mental health. He still cannot explain to man and God why Government stopped debate last week when UNC MP Bhoe Tewarie was there willing to speak and other UNC MPs would have re-entered the Parliament after the tea break and participated in a vote,” Persad-Bissessar said.
“Dr Rowley has surrendered T&T’s sovereignity to the US but do they have the courage to tell the US to sign the International Criminal Court Treaty? They can’t stand up to the US,” she added.