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MINISTER of Public Utilities Barry Padarath told former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley to stay in retirement as the minister defended Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar over her "TT first policy."

Persad-Bissessar has questioned some of Caricom's traditional positions amid the US-Venezuela tensions, she recently dubbed Caricom an “unreliable partner” and “dysfunctional and self-destructive.” On December 20, she said, "The fact is that beneath the thin mask of unity, there are many widening fissures that if left unaddressed will lead to its implosion.

“The organisation is deteriorating rapidly due to poor management, lax accountability, factional divisions, destabilising policies, private conflicts between regional leaders and political parties and the inappropriate meddling in the domestic politics of member states."