TOURISM, Culture and the Arts Minister Randall Mitchell described Opposition Senator David Nakhid's claims about the Prime Minister being under police investigation as nothing more than "a madman's rant."
Mitchell said all Nakhid and other UNC members continue to do through their actions is prove to the population that their party is no longer relevant to the future growth of TT.
Mitchell made these statements during his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate on Friday.
In the Senate on Thursday, Nakhid alleged he had been called as a witness by the Anti-Corruption Investigation Bureau in a probe into allegations of misbehaviour in public office by Dr Rowley.
Rowley dismissed the claim. He lamented that the budget debate had descended into a UNC search for scandal and that its strategy was: “When you have nothing to effectively assail the actual budgetary provisions, invent and invoke or revel in scandals, real or imaginary.”
As he supported Rowley's position, Mitchell said, "When the honourable senator was speaking – Senator Nakhid – a calypso came to my mind, one by David Rudder."
He did not remember the name of the calypso initially, but said, "I know within there, he sings 'Vote for we and we go set you free.'"
Responding to an inaudible comment in the Parliament Chamber, Mitchell replied, "A madman's rant. That is what came to mind (with Nahkid's contribution)."
He recalled Nakhid "went on to say the Prime Minister is being investigated or something or the other.
"What he (Nakhid) would not say is that every single day, he has been writing the commissioner of police, harassing the CoP."
He described Nakhid's actions "as something I can only describe as pestilential."
Nakhid, Mitchell continued, does not understand the Constitution or the powers it gives a prime minister.
"That brings me back to (opposition) Senator (Wade) Mark. I saw it (Mark's contribution) as envious petulance."
He dismissed Mark's description of the new building being constructed at the site of the PNM's Balisier House headquarters as a "Tower of Babylon."
Government senators thumped their desks as Mitchell countered, "It is a tower of strength. It is a tower of intellectual capacity and prowess. It is a tower of moral rectitude."
He challenged UNC members to ask themselves why their party has no home of its own to date.
Mitchell declared it was not the PNM's fault the UNC was evicted from a rented accommodation at Rienzi Complex in Couva, later occupied a space above a grocery in Couva and now has its headquarters "upstairs a rum shop."
Acknowledging that many devout Muslims are members of the PNM and that Nakhid is a Muslim, Mitchell said, "If (that description) offends this honourable senator (Nakhid), we will describe it as a restaurant and bar."
Should Nakhid dislike the word "rum," Mitchell added, "We will describe it as liquid elixirs that contain propanol and ethanol, that when regularly consumed, can cause one to become inebriated."
He reiterated that Nakhid's contribution was nothin
