Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar described Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as a “vaccine vagrant” following his media conference yesterday, as she renewed her call to let all citizens return to work.
During yesterday’s media conference, Rowley announced the resumption of the construction sector and the reopening of laundromats.
It came after Ministry of Health officials reported a continued decrease in new infections, but an admittance that it was not a fast as they hoped.
In a media release, the United National Congress (UNC) political leader said that an “unkempt and grubby looking” Rowley, showed he was willing to say anything to distract from the fact that he and his failed medical team had no plan to take T&T out of the public health crisis. As most non-essential services remain closed, Persad-Bissessar said citizens could not continue to suffer this way. She said there appeared to be no urgency to save the livelihoods of thousands of citizens who are on the verge of losing everything because of lockdowns measures. Last month, the Pan American Health Organisation said that lockdown was a key public health measure to flattening an epidemiological curve.
“Vaccine vagrant Keith Rowley continues to operate like a con man who keeps telling you next week, next week he will get something done. Neither he nor his propaganda team expressed any regret or condolences about the over 866 persons who have died from COVID-19, 640, have died in the last 50 days alone,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Despite COVID-19 deaths across the world, she placed blame on the Ministry of Health’s team. She said the data produced yesterday confirmed that the failed mass vaccination attempt on June 6 panned out as the UNC previously warned, saying that the largest spike recorded occurred 14 days later.
“Just a few weeks ago, Keith Rowley addressed the nation and claimed that 800,000 vaccines would be heading our way from the African Union. Now he says that the total figure will, in fact, be given to Caricom as a whole, with T&T set to receive about 200,000. Yet, he does not know when it will arrive. How long do Rowley and his failed team think they can sell the same tired story of ‘no significant change in cases and next week we hope for better?’”
She said citizens gave up their constitutional rights, their ability to earn a salary and the opportunity to provide for their families. Yet eight weeks later, there is no improvement because of the incompetence of those in charge.
“I again call on the government to let all citizens get back to work so they can earn an income to feed their families. The country and our citizens cannot go on suffering this way.”
