WHAT DOES the Freundel Stuart administration have to hide?
That’s what Opposition Leader Mia Mottley wants to know as she claimed last night at the eighth People’s Assembly at Springer Memorial School, that Government was going to Parliament tomorrow to repeal the Public Accounts Committee Act.
“The PAC is to meet [today] and has summoned witnesses to give evidence regarding the affairs of the National Housing Corporation (NHC). What is the Prime Minister frightened for? What evidence does he wish not to be heard by the public?” Mottley asked.
She said Stuart should know that she would not ask any questions to which she does not know the answers.
The St Michael East representative said the last time the PAC summoned witnesses, the meeting had to be postponed on December 13 because of the Minister of Finance’s ministerial statement. This time the meeting has to contend with a bill to repeal the PAC to stop it from functioning, she claimed.
But a defiant Mottley proclaimed: “We will do our job as a PAC and that will not stop.”
The Opposition Leader also castigated Stuart for not addressing the country as Government started sending home 3 000 workers last Friday.
“You have people from the School Meals Department being telephoned this weekend and told ‘do not come to work on [this] morning’. Unheard of and unacceptable behaviour. They were not hired by telephone and they cannot be laid off by telephone.
“You have 300 workers being sent home from the NHC being dismissed in breach of the Employment Rights Act. You have letters being delivered on a Saturday to workers in the Fisheries Division to dismiss them.
“Where is the leadership? You cannot remain focused on protecting the pensions for life of 16 persons while taking away the $400 to $500 per week that thousands of workers are relying on to live and to support their families. What kind of Government can this be?” she asked.
Mottley also questioned whether the lay-offs would achieve Government’s fiscal and budgetary objectives, and what were the plans to facilitate growth in the economy.
“The Prime Minister has not told us whether the NIS [National Insurance Scheme] is in a position to meet the unusual expenditure that will fall upon it with these massive lay-offs.
“Will he address the plight of thousands of other temporary workers who are affected by not being able to borrow from the banks even though they have not been laid off?
“My advice to the Prime Minister is deal with the people of Barbados and address them – not via questions coming after a Chamber of Commerce luncheon,” she said.
(SP)