PM releases correspondence on election observers

THE PRIME Minister has released various pieces of correspondence on Government's request for election observers and has denied accusations he attempted to stop them from coming to TT.

He was speaking Tuesday at a media conference held at Balisier House, Port of Spain.

Dr Rowley said the Commonwealth Secretariat had indicated difficulty with funding while Caricom's difficulty was getting people to come to Trinidad.

"The (Caricom) Secretary-General tried to get personnel to come and they felt they would have needed minimum 12 people, possibly 15 people, (as) that's the kind of mission that goes. They were only able to find three people and therefore on that basis they declined to go any further."

Rowley said he took umbrage with misrepresentations by the Opposition Leader and claims that he did not invite observers or took steps to prevent them from coming to TT. He said he asked for all the correspondence to be posted on the Office of the Prime Minister Facebook page for the benefit of the public.

"So I just want to remind some people that facts are valuable and you will only get so far with the persistent lying from official sources."

The documents posted included a letter on July 9 to Caricom Secretary General Irwin La Rocque and La Rocque's response on July 10.

One of the documents showed what appeared to be a message exchange between La Rocque and former minister of foreign and caricom affairs Dennis Moses for the period July 22-25. La Rocque said he was advised the cost of quarantine per person was US $2,500.

"It is with much regret that I must inform you that we did not make budgetary provisions for the cost of quarantine. Any relief which could be provided in that regard would greatly facilitate the missions’ visit."

He later said there were three members and he was not sure how effectively they could observe polling day. He said a minimum of ten was required while 15 was preferable given the number of polling stations and geographical distribution.

There was also a July 14 letter from Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland QC acknowledging receipt of a July 9 letter requesting election observers.

Then on July 23, there is a letter from Scotland saying there are potential observers on standby "and my officials have made every effort to put in place potential arrangements, including logistical arrangements, hotel bookings, available flights, etc. to attend this important invitation."

She added: "Sadly I understand that a focal point has not yet been communicated and this essential for the deployment of the mission. Given the current circumstances, it does not seem possible to deploy them by Friday July 24, as there are critical arrangements that should have been made with the focal point prior to deploying."

Then there was note from the Foreign Affairs Ministry saying the ministry stood ready and was available as a focal point. Rowley on Tuesday said there was also a focal point for the missions.

The documents also included a message exchange with British High Commissioner Tim Stew and Moses on requesting assistance to cover costs for the Commonwealth mission.