THE Prime Minister on Wednesday accused the Opposition Leader of a strategy to "feed dissent in Tobago" and strife with Trinidad, while she accused him of hijacking Parliament to promote a bill to make Tobago a colony of Trinidad.
Dr Rowley and Kamla Persad-Bissessar each held news briefings the day after the Opposition had walked out of the House of Representatives in protest at the PM getting an extra hour to speak on a government motion to Adopt the Report of the JSC on the Constitution (Amendment)(Tobago Self-Government) Bill 2020.
This bill said the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will have 15 members, resolving the six-six tie after the last election for the now-deadlocked THA.
The assembly will become part of a proposed Tobago legislature.
Each leader accused the other of telling untruths in the clash over the bill.
Flanked by MPs at her office, Persad-Bissessar tore up a document which she said was a version of the bill gutted by the Government to become a worthless document. Without its special majority provisions, it could be passed without Opposition support for the Government to impose its will on Tobago, she said.
"It's a brand new bill but with no consultation with Tobago."
Rowley later on said that was not correct but that the bill remained intact before the House in committee, along with the Tobago Island Council Bill introduced on Wednesday.
Persad-Bissessar vowed a motion to censure Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George for the method of extending Rowley's speaking time, but the PM in turn insisted it had been properly done.
The Opposition Leader said she stood in defence of the people of Tobago and of democracy, while the Prime Minister asked "whither goest Tobago" as a stalled bill would stall new THA polls.
Persad-Bissessar alleged Rowley had hijacked the House to try to railroad through a bill that was bad for Tobago and in doing this he had attacked named Tobagonians who were standing up for their rights.
"The rules are not to be made on the hoof vikey-vie," she said. Saying House Leader Camille Robinson-Regis had ceded her time to Rowley to wrap up, Persad-Bissessar said you cannot cede an MP's speaking time. "Madness, nonsense. This is not like a plate of food, 'Here have some bake, some salt fish.'"
She said, "We would be derelict in our duty if we stayed to participate in this railroading and destruction of our democracy."
Persad-Bissessar vowed a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. It seemed Rowley was fearful of any UNC MP speaking after him, she added.
Persad-Bissessar vowed to oppose any bill to make Tobago a colony of Trinidad under "King Rowley."
She said an amended bill would reduce the THA to a local government body, with its bills needing the nod of Cabinet and Parliament.
"They are taking away more powers than they are giving."
Persad-Bissessar said the UNC does not contest Tobago as it was a party grounded in Trinidad, even as the people of Tobago wer
