PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Sep. 27, CMC – Former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley has condemned Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s criticism of Independent Senators following their opposition to the government’s Special Operations Bill, warning against what he described as an attempt to weaken their constitutional role.
The legislation was passed in the Senate after a 15-15 tie, with all 15 Government Senators voting in favour and the six Opposition and nine Independent Senators voting against. Senate President Wade Mark subsequently used his casting vote to break the deadlock.
Persad-Bissessar later sharply criticised the Independent Senators and said her government would no longer accept amendments from the Independent Bench on future legislation.
In a statement titled “When Power Corrupts,” Rowley accused the United National Congress administration of seeking to intimidate the Independent Bench.
“This unwarranted, sustained, vulgar attack on the Independent Senators is to be condemned in the strongest of terms,” Rowley said.
He argued that members of the government, including the Prime Minister, were required to exercise their authority within the limits of the Constitution and said attempts to “neuter, frighten, and render ineffective” Independent Senators amounted, in his view, to an effort to weaken a constitutional safeguard.
Rowley said disagreement with the government’s crime-fighting policies did not justify attacks on senators who were carrying out their parliamentary responsibilities.
“No right-thinking citizen will disagree with the Government making every reasonable and visionary effort to respond to the criminal elements that prey on the nation,” he said.
“But that assignment cannot justify the abuse of power, constitutional sidestepping, and governmental overreach.”
Independent Senators have also defended their role in scrutinising legislation, saying they are not aligned with either the Government or Opposition and are expected to assess measures on their merits.
Rowley also criticised what he said was an increasingly divisive approach to governance and crime-fighting, arguing that Trinidad and Tobago could not address crime by separating communities into opposing camps.
“It is foolish to think that on these little islands we can barricade and demonize one group or area so as to bring safety and Nirvana to another,” he said.
“We either fight crime together and win, or the criminals will win by our actions of tearing ourselves apart.”
Rowley served as prime minister from 2015 until his resignation in March 2025 .
