The Opposition, through its MP Rudranath Indarsingh, will file a motion of Privileges against Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in the House of Representatives, according to a statement from the party on Sunday.

“This week MP Rudranath Indarsingh in accordance with Standing Order 32(2)  will file a motion of Privileges  against Rowley for his blatantly false statements alleging that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar “buried” and “covered up” the Sabga Report whilst a member of the Basdeo Panday Cabinet,” the statement said.

“This allegation is not just a blatant lie it is a disgusting attempt by Rowley to defect from the recent scandal where evidence shows children in state facilities are subjected to physical and sexual abuse. These state facilities are under the purview of the Children’s Authority for which Rowley himself is the line Minister responsible.”

“This sickening attempt to distort the 25-year-old Sabga report by falsely suggesting it was “ buried” will not deter the public from making Rowley and former Children’s Authority Director and  PNM Candidate  Nichola Harvey-Mitchell answer for the horrendous crimes committed against vulnerable children under their watch. 

The Opposition’s Motion is premised and based on substantial Parliamentary evidence which demonstrates that Keith Rowley ought to have known that his statements were inaccurate against the Leader of the Opposition,” it added.

Last week, PM Rowley called for a police investigation into the 1997 report.

“All this time I and my Government were totally unaware of the contents of a Sabga Report which is now being serialised in the media. I indicated to Parliament, recently, that this Government had established a Committee to enquire into our concerns about reports of abuses and other shortcomings in this national effort of caring for these children. The expert committee did its work with dispatch and submitted its findings to the Government in late December 2021.  By April of 2022 the unabridged report of this exercise was laid in Parliament for public information,” the PM said.

“I am now advised that this Committee sought diligently to get access to a Sabga Report but even their best effort could not provide them with a copy from any source.

Through the local media, I am now discovering that there was/is a Sabga Report produced by investigators who inspected and collected information from nine (9) children’s homes and described some of the most awful conditions and treatment meted out by person/s associated with child care and custody at the nation’s care centres.

I am shocked, scandalized and angry as a result of what I have read  in the local media where some of our worst suspicions appear to have been long confirmed and known perpetrators have been protected and aided by persons and institutions known and unknown.  I am today publicly calling on the Commissioner of Police to take immediate steps to find this Sabga Report and the evidence of all those who were aware of this frightening situation and take all necessary action against all who have been implicated in or with these very shocking revelations as published,” he ended.