Manohar hits Manning for Movie Towne remark

CHAGUANAS MP Manohar Ramsaran has slammed Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s claim that the assassination(s) on Wednesday night at Movie Towne were merely “internecine warfare” that did not affect ordinary citizens. In the House of Representatives on Friday evening, Ramsaran read out news headlines: “‘Ambush in the night. Two dead. Blood in Movie Towne’. Blood is on the hands of the PNM. This religious organisation was part of the PNM campaign. They used violence. They were in Tunapuna, Barataria/San Juan and Ortoire/Mayaro armed to the teeth. “This blood must fall squarely on the hands of the Prime Minister. We have not yet heard his condemnation. He has said that it is people sorting out themselves. This is dangerous. We have heard two of the worst statements of a Prime Minster: That the average citizen has nothing to fear and that the guns came in when there was unrest in Venezuela. If members on the other side (ie Government benches) don’t condemn those Prime Minister’s statements publicly, they will do so privately. “Our Prime Minister must be careful of making these statements which come from a desperate and incapable man. How can you blame another country for what’s happening in Trinidad and Tobago?”

At that, Speaker of the House Barry Sinanan intervened and told Ramsaran to be relevant to the Bill at hand, the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2003. Saying the Opposition had nothing against ordinary CEPEP workers, Ramsaran calculated the labour wages paid to a single gang of 10 people over four months at $1,400 each per month to be some $158,000, out of a total contract award of $400,000. He asked: Where is the money going? The people stealing the Government’s money are the contractors. The people in the blue suits are not the businessmen. We are not against the people in blue.”

He read from a weekly newspaper to list the CEPEP contractors, detailing the position of many of them as PNM party activists or as relatives to PNM politicians. He read: “Horace Gordon; Charmaine Cummings; St Clair Williams;  Stanley Butcher; Marva Bostick; Ainsley Matthews; Lionel Beckles, Brian Beckles, father and brother of the MP for Arima; Kathy-Ann Cardinal-Austin;  Prakash Persad, former PNM Senator’s brother; McDonald Padmore; Jennifer Marrishaw; Patrick Clifford, father of ex-Mayor of San Fer-nando; Roopchand Balliram and Philip Salazar; Jameel Mustapha, Nafeesa’s campaign manager. Devon Simmonete, son of former PNM general secretary; Peter Marine; Sharon Thomas-Mony”. Claiming cronyism over CEPEP contractors, Ramsaran concluded: “This isn’t a fair selection process”. Minister of Trade, Ken Valley wrapped up debate on the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2003 which will increase tax exemption on severance benefits from $100,000 to $300,000. The House passed the Bill unanimously.