Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley must fix a glaring omission in the Cabinet of T&T and that is to include an Islamic minister.
This is the view of one Muslim organisation, Ummah T&T, which it shared in a press conference yesterday at its office at Felicity, Chaguanas.
Chairman of the organisation Imam Rasheed Karim said the group had written to Rowley shortly after his victory in the September 7 polls.
In the letter to Rowley, dated September 10, the organisation congratulated him and requested a meeting to formulate plans to involve the Muslim community in governance.
Imam Karim said Muslims accounted for 150,000 people in T&T and added that a Muslim minister in Cabinet would ensure equity and mean the Cabinet would be properly advised on Muslim issues.
“The People’s Partnership had three members of the Muslim community in its Cabinet. We will have to give him some time but we are seeing new ministers appointed every day,” Karim said. He said it was important for a Muslim voice in the Cabinet to contribute to decision-making.
Karim, acknowledging that Rowley still needed to name his Opposition Senators, said he felt a Muslim Senator was not an appointment he would favour.
“Cabinet is where the decisions are made and we would feel better if there was a Muslim minister.
“There is no reason a Muslim minister cannot be appointed. The PNM had Muslim candidates for the election and even if they did not win a seat, Clarence Rambharat did not win in Mayaro and was still appointed a minister,” he said.
Inshan Ishmael responds
Chairman of the Muslim Social and Cultural Foundation Inshan Ishmael yesterday commented on the stance of the Ummah TT group.
“Let us face the facts, very few Muslims put themselves up for nomination on both sides, as such it is expected that there will be an issue with Muslim representation.
“For me this does not pose so much of an issue as our concern with the previous Government was with those ministers whose agenda was clearly anti-Muslim,” he added.
He said he had not seen any member of the present Government who had pushed an anti-Muslim agenda and that was a great start.
“I was also reassured that Muslim representation will be present within the Senate soon and before the end of the year in Cabinet. Quite frankly, based on previous experiences we have had Muslims in Cabinet but they did little for our community.
“I would prefer to have zero Muslims in Cabinet rather than three non-Muslims in Opposition whose history against Muslims and our faith speaks volumes,” he added.