Opposition Leader challenges PM’s decision to use her sister as travel assistant

Port-of-Spain: Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley is condemning Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's decision to employ her sister Vidwatie Newton as her personal assistant on overseas trips, paid for by the state and is calling on the prime minister to apologise to former president Arthur NR Robinson for using him as precedence.

In a strongly worded statement issued this morning, Dr Rowley describes the prime minister's defense of this decision as the latest attempt by the government to mislead the public on the abuse of the public trust and the public purse by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Dr Rowley, who is currently in India attending a parliamentary conference, argues that the prime minister is attempting to hide behind actions incorrectly ascribed to the former prime minister, after Persad-Bissessar pointed out that the former prime minister had used his son as a personal assistant.

Dr Rowley describes this defense as "distasteful, crass and unconvincing" and says it warrants a public apology to President Robinson from the Office of the Prime Minister.