The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) is once again de­fend­ing spend­ing on In­de­pen­dence Day cel­e­bra­tions staged by the Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion (TPRC), the Port-of-Spain City Cor­po­ra­tion (PoSCC), and the par­ty it­self.

This fol­lowed Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s de­fence of her Cab­i­net mem­bers at­tend­ing Caribbean Pre­mier League (CPL) match­es at the Bri­an Lara Crick­et Acad­e­my on In­de­pen­dence week­end, de­spite threats against Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials that trig­gered the on­go­ing state of emer­gency.

The Prime Min­is­ter de­flect­ed the ques­tion on her min­is­ters’ at­ten­dance at CPL match­es, which was raised by the PNM, in­stead ar­gu­ing that the PNM should in­stead hold its cor­po­ra­tions ac­count­able for funds “shame­less­ly wast­ed on fete­ing and rum drink­ing un­der the guise of in­de­pen­dence cel­e­bra­tions” dur­ing that week­end.