Anil Roberts’s expulsion is PNM’S latest push to dictatorship: UNC

Trinidad and Tobago: Anil Roberts, the renowned name in politics, is again in the air. His expulsion from the Parliament on Tuesday is the latest bold move to establish a dictatorship in Trinidad and Tobago.

UNC Communications stated, “It is clear that the PNM wishes to govern without a Parliamentary Opposition, without the voices of over 309,000 citizens, the majority of voters in Trinidad being heard or represented.”

Additionally, The PNM ploy is to use every opportunity to demean and minimize the Opposition. When the light of Democracy is shone on them in the Chamber, they scramble to put it out.

By majority plan, the PNM wishes to govern by announcements to the constitutionally powerless media, bypassing the Parliament. The administration is continuously running away from or trying to suppress the Parliamentary Opposition, who is the centerpiece of our system of Parliamentary Democracy, representation, and accountability.

The PNM has a clear plan, which they advance ruthlessly. Everything the PNM does is sinister. Each time they succeed with a violation of our democratic rights, they push the envelope further. We become like frogs in a pot of steadily boiling water.

It is beyond ironic twisted or perverse is more like it that in a Motion to restore the time permitted to speak in the House, a Senator’s speaking time was actually cut. Further, he was expelled from the House.

UNC communications stated, to defend our system of Parliamentary Democracy, we must insist that all Presiding Officers act reasonably, without bias, and with consistency. The Opposition must be allowed to represent its constituents and criticize the Government freely in the Parliament.

In the interest of our citizens’ rights to be represented in Parliament and transparency, we also insist on knowing what rules are specifically being violated, if so charged. Power must never be exercised arbitrarily or on the whim of those who temporarily hold it, added UNC communications.

UNC demanded that the citizenry be vigilant and aware of the steady destruction of our rights and freedoms. All of us must defend our Parliamentary Democracy from being turned into a PNM Dictatorship.

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