Kamla probes Manning’s money

THE financial and legal affairs of Prime Minister Patrick Manning will come under scrutiny when the House of Representatives sits on Friday at 1.30 pm.

Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be calling upon Attorney General John Jeremie to tell Parliament the amount of money which Manning owes to the State arising out of his unsuccessful High Court actions against the State in 1997. Manning had challenged the legality of then PNM MPs Dr Vincent Lasse and Dr Rupert Griffith crossing the floor to join the UNC. Persad-Bissessar will ask Jeremie to say what steps the State has since taken to recover those monies and whether there is a policy position with respect to citizens who have lost legal matters and have been ordered to pay costs. Manning is currently attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Nigeria and his chair in the Lower House will be occupied by Community Development Minister Joan Yuille-Williams who is Acting PM in his absence.

Persad-Bissessar will also ask Jeremie to disclose the source of funding for the installation ceremony and cocktail reception for members of the Regional Judicial and Legal Service Commission which will have the responsibility of selecting members of the Caribbean Court of Justice. Education Minister Hazel Manning will also be in Persad-Bissessar’s gunsights as the UNC MP will ask her to state the number of electronic debit cards already issued to parents, the number of cards still to be distributed, the total value of these cards and whether tenders were invited for the supply of these cards.

Opposition Chief Ganga Singh has two questions for Energy Minister Eric Williams about the Caribbean gas pipeline and agreement for a proposed aluminum smelter plant in Trinidad and Tobago. Singh will also ask Public Utilities Minister Pennelope Beckles whether criminal investigations have been launched into an alleged fraudulent transfer of monies from TSTT and Acting Finance Minister Conrad Enill about an alleged agreement between NLCB and G-Tech for the provision of video terminals in TT.

The Lower House will also be called upon to adopt the report of a joint select parliamentary committee which recommends that all public officials’ declarations of assets be made retroactive to the year 1999. Last week, Manning said Government was committed to approving the integrity forms in Parliament and amending the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 to make declarations retroactive to 1999 but hinted that the net of persons required to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission could be narrowed. Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday and former AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj have expressed grave concerns about Manning’s statement.

A Private Members motion filed by St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming calling upon Parliament to reaffirm its commitment to equality of treatment in TT is also listed for debate. Yetming is charging that “ethnic cleansing” at Petrotrin and alleged discrimination at other State agencies proves the PNM has institutionalised discrimination since returning to power in December 2001. UNC sources have also indicated that new revelations of affairs at Petrotrin could be made at Friday’s sitting.