The Gov­ern­ment’s re­view of diplo­mat­ic pass­ports con­tin­ues to stir po­lit­i­cal de­bate, with Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar con­firm­ing that for­mer prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley will al­so be asked to sur­ren­der his diplo­mat­ic pass­port. Row­ley, who is cur­rent­ly out of the coun­try, said he would re­spond to the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion up­on his re­turn.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s an­nounce­ment came a day af­ter for­mer prime min­is­ter Stu­art Young re­vealed he had re­ceived an un­ex­pect­ed call in­struct­ing him to re­turn the diplo­mat­ic pass­port is­sued to him.

The Prime Min­is­ter said the re­view fol­lowed con­cerns raised by T&T’s in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners over the is­suance and pos­si­ble abuse of diplo­mat­ic pass­ports. She said 985 peo­ple cur­rent­ly hold diplo­mat­ic pass­ports, de­spite many no longer meet­ing the cri­te­ria to pos­sess them.