Akash Samaroo
Lead Editor-Politics
The People’s National Movement (PNM) is calling for the resignation or removal of Sean Sobers as Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs.
Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, Opposition Senator and former Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said his contacts within the regional body have contradicted the Government’s account of events surrounding the now contentious retreat in Nevis.
Browne said that despite Minister Sean Sobers’ claim he was deliberately blocked from attending the retreat because invitations were limited to Heads of Government, he has been informed that Caricom officials made every effort to persuade the minister to attend.
“None were excluded, none were denied, none were disinvited, and all were welcome. Dr. Browne, are you accusing the government of lying on Caricom on this matter? Yes, I am. They are lying.”
The Opposition Senator said “extraordinary” measures were taken by the Caricom Secretariat to include Minister Sobers at the Nevis retreat where the election for Secretary General took place.
“Specifically, above and beyond the call, with phone calls, WhatsApp exchanges, and communication late into the night before. When it was clear that the Prime Minister had bussed it and left the country, up to the morning of the retreat, 1 AM, you have Secretariat staff labouring and reaching out and engaging, trying to persuade.”
He said the Prime Minister then made an “absolute fool” of herself for describing the election process as “surreptitious and odious.”
“The only thing surreptitious is the allegations being made by this government, and the only thing odious is the dishonesty of the current cabinet, and in this matter, the Minister of Foreign and Caricom affairs,” Dr Browne posited.
Like Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Browne pointed to Article 28 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which said that a country’s absence from a vote is taken as an abstention and abstentions do not invalidate the process.
He said Sobers and the government are embarrassing Trinidad and Tobago.
“Under these circumstances, the Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, Sean Sobers, cannot continue in office, having misled the regional community and the people of Trinidad and Tobago, so comprehensively on such an important and fundamental matter.”
The former Prime Minister of the St Vincent and the Grenadines claimed that Sobers told Caricom officials that he did not want to go to Nevis via boat because he gets seasick. Sobers later said it was a joke and he underscored his willingness to attend.
However, Browne did not think it was funny and said this further underscores the incompetence of the minister and is more proof that he must step down.
