FARIS FALTERS AGAIN

FAST-TALKING Government Minister Faris Al Rawi is continuing to tumble from political grace.

The removal of the Secondary Road Rehabilitation and Improvement Company and its $200 million budget has pulled a further political rug from under Al Rawi’s feet.

This follows Al Rawi’s demotion from high-profile Attorney General to the marginal Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development almost a year ago.

The secondary road company has been shunted to Works Minister Rohan Sinanan, who already had a $450 million road repair budget for the current fiscal year.

When he was sacked as AG in mid-May 2022, Al Rawi was replaced by Reginald Armour, who has since bungled several high-profile legal matters.

The formation of a special purposes company and allocation of $200 million for road repairs had surprised many experts, who said it could lead to a duplication of infrastructural works and to wastage.

The Government has peddled the ministerial reassignment of the secondary roads company as a consolidation of resources, but informed sources say Al Rawi’s political stocks are continuing to falter.

Government insiders say that Stuart Young, a one-time Al Rawi sidekick, has become a virtual Cabinet nemesis, especially since being elected chairman of the ruling People’s National Movement.

Sources say that Young, in his prior ministerial role as Minister of National Security, may be aware of reconnaissance measures pertaining to Al Rawi.

There is speculation that Al Rawi may not be a sure thing as the 2025 candidate for the San Fernando West constituency, which he is currently representing for the second straight term.

As Attorney General, Al Rawi did not bring the series of criminal charges against senior officials of the previous administration which has been a frontline mission by Rowley.

In fact, bureaucratic blundering by the Government led, last October, to the collapse of the sole criminal corruption matter, against former Attorney General Ramlogan and attorney Gerald Ramdeen.

The Prime Minister has insisted that his administration “would go to the ends of the earth” to investigate alleged wrongdoing by operatives of the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government.

In the 2022-2023 national budget, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was assigned $2.7 billion, most of which was earmarked for recurrent expenditure, such as transfers to municipal agencies and salaries.