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(Trinidad Guardian) Kumuto/Manzanilla Dr Rai Ragbir shocked Parliament yesterday by breaking with the United National Assembly and voting with the government to pass the Whistleblower Protection Bill.
In a vote after the committee stage of the bill, Raghbir was the only Opposition member to support the government in amending the provisions of the bill, which seeks to combat corruption and other malpractices, encourage and facilitate disclosure of wrongdoings in the public and private sectors and protect those who disclose them from adverse repercussions.
The unexpected move sparked an outcry from government officials.
However, as the government holds a majority in the House, Raghbir’s support did not affect the passage of the bill.
Raghbir later told The Guardian that after extensively researching the bill, he felt compelled to support it because of its importance in tackling corruption.
“There’s a lot of illegal activity, unethical activity, especially fraud, that goes on in the world, and the people who have to come forward and report these things are always worried that they’re going to lose their job, get demoted, or even have their life threatened. There’s also the psychosocial aspect of it, where they themselves get frustrated, so it’s important to protect those people in the bill.”
Responding hours later, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who was not present in the parliamentary chamber during the vote, said she was not surprised by Raghbir’s move, noting that she had warned against such actions.
“For us UNC members, it is business as usual because I told everyone during the internal campaign that some dissidents were working with the PNM and would defect to the PNM after being rejected by members in the internal elections. Councillor Ragbir proved to the UNC members that I was absolutely right.”
However, Dr. Raghbir flatly rejected any suggestion that he should join the Awami National Movement party.
The opposition MP said in a Facebook post that while his decision might cause disappointment among colleagues, no caucus discussion had been held on the bill and his views on it had not been sought from the whip or leader.
“Unfortunately, this has become the norm for the Opposition when it comes to considering important legislation and in my view it demonstrates negligence on the part of the Opposition.”
However, Persad Bissessar explained that UNC did not support the bill for several reasons, including its privacy-infringing provisions.
“It violates the fundamental constitutional right of victims to access courts under the rule of law. Despite the government’s efforts to do away with the three-fifth majority, it does not address the problem of requiring a majority of more than three-fifths to deprive people of their right to access courts. This bill will definitely end up in the courts.”
But Ragbir has stood by his decision to vote for the bill, drawing praise from opponents including Public Utilities Secretary Marvin Gonzalez.
“I want to commend the actions of my respected colleagues from Kumuto/Manzanilla and Mayaro. When you seek to lead a political party, you must be independent, you must be self-reliant, you must uphold integrity, you must uphold honor, you must lead by example. Therefore, Madam Speaker, from tonight, the new Leader of the Opposition is the respected Senator from Kumuto/Manzanilla.”
Less than a week ago, Raghbir and members of the United Patriots Party (UPP), led by Mayaro MP Rashton Pare, lost the internal elections of the United National Congress. Raghbir and several other members of the United National Congress who campaigned for the elections were labeled as dissidents because of the tensions within the party during the campaign. Persad-Bissessar had previously threatened that members could be expelled from the party if they voted against the party line in parliament.
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