PM and Panday talk ‘process’

YESTERDAY’S much touted constitutional reform talks between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday could be summed up in one word — process. At the end of nearly 90 minutes of talks behind closed doors at Whitehall, Manning emerged to tell reporters: “The talks were exploratory and it centred essentially around the process that we can use to proceed. The talks were very cordial. We agreed to meet again to continue discussion.” The items on yesterday’s agenda were passage of the Police Reform Bills in Parliament, the Caribbean Court of Justice, integrity legislation and constitutional reform.

“We go into the talks with an open mind and we go in with optimism. If we weren’t optimistic then we wouldn’t have gone into the talks at all. Only time will tell whether our optimism was misplaced or not. We are dealing with very difficult political issues.” Manning added that he could meet with Panday next week to continue their talks. The UNC leader was equally evasive on the nature of his talks with the Prime Minister, saying, “we don’t want to give the press an opportunity to scuttle discussions before they get underway.” “It went well and we agreed we should meet again. There has got to be an agreement on process. If there is going to be constitutional reform, how do you proceed to constitutional reform? Once you agree to that, then we can begin the process. We (UNC) are interested in fundamental constitutional reform because we do not  believe that piecemeal constitutional reform will fit into the existing Constitution which has already proven itself to be inadequate,” Panday said. Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj claimed yesterday’s talks between Manning and Panday were nothing more than “political gallerying” by both men. Sitting in on the talks were AG John Jeremie, Works Minister Franklyn Khan and Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh.