Some CLICO policyholders say ‘Dookeran must go’

TIMES INT'L

“He has to go! …Dookeran must go!” That cry echoed around the packed auditorium of Daaga Hall, UWI, St Augustine in Trinidad, over the weekend as CLICO policyholders castigated Finance Minister Winston Dookeran. Policyholder Dolly Ali, who moved a motion of no confidence against Dookeran, said: “I’m very, very disappointed in this government, especially Dookeran. (He has) No emotion, no mission. We have to get him out! “Remove him immediately!” Ali added. A man who seconded the motion against the finance minister said he was 67 years old, and might not live to be 97, to see the rest of CLICO payments promised by government.

Reminding that a wounded animal attacks with force, he said he could not explain the situation to his wheelchair-bound grandchild, or children. Hitting “the Dookie mind”, which he said Dookeran has, the man added: “In 20 years, your dollar will be worth 20 cents. We have to do something drastic. Probably we have to remind the minister that, not long ago, an unknown named Hulsie (Bhaggan) replaced him in Chaguanas, and he was also replaced in St Augustine. He’s bringing sorrow and tears to old people like us…He says he’s a Christian, but…He has to be removed!” Policyholder Percy Farrell, 80, who is among a group of five initiating legal action this week, related that he had bought a CLICO EFPA policy in 1996. “I was not being greedy; I was very careful. So it came as a surprise when CLICO fell into difficulty; but I was assured by central bank’s governor then to keep my money in CLICO, and not start a run on the company,” he said.

Farrel added. Farrell said his involvement in CLICO was not an investment, as Dookeran claimed, but a bona fide insurance policy. CPHG deputy chairman Peter Permell claimed the group had information that Dookeran “apparently threatened” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar with resignation if Cabinet did not accept his budget plan on the CLICO issue. Commenting on concerns about what action was being taken against CLF’s Lawrence Duprey and directors, Permell noted the Lindquist report in the DPP’s hands; a police probe; and the one-man enquiry established by Government.     (Trinidad Guardian)

Related posts

Comments are closed.