PM to speak when time is right

Approached by journalists following the PNM’s General Council meeting on Sunday, the Prime Minister declined to give details about investigations into the bombing, and referred all questions on that matter to National Security Minister Martin Joseph.

Joseph did not attend Sunday’s General Council meeting as he was meeting with top national security officials at his ministry’s Abercromby Street headquarters around the same time. However the Prime Minister did indicate that once he was in a position to fully brief the press about last Friday’s bombing, he would do so.

PNM chairman Franklin Khan said the party was pleased with the response of Manning, Health Minister John Rahael and Joseph to the bombing.

Shortly after the bombing occurred, Manning assured the population that the situation was under control, Joseph and his junior minister Fitzgerald Hinds visited the crime scene and Rahael was at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital to monitor the treatment of those injured in the bombing. Rahael said those persons will receive whatever additional medical treatment and services they require.

Khan also said while the Prime Minister did not divulge all details into the bombing, because it was a sensitive national security matter, Manning did give the assurance that the authorities were on top of the situation and the population will be updated as the situation unfolds. The US, British and Australian governments and the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have all indicated that last Friday’s bombing has not compromised TT’s national security, and there is no evidence of a terrorist presence in this country.

While reiterating longstanding advice for their respective nationals to exercise sensible precautions where crime is concerned in all international jurisdictions that they visit, the US, Britain and Australia have not advised their citizens against coming to TT.

Haiti and Colombia are the only nations in the western hemisphere for which this type of advisory has been issued by the US and Britain. The CIA has maintained that TT remains an excellent site for international businesses to invest.

However, the Prime Minister told journalists that he has now settled into his temporary accommodations in Federation Park and expects to return to his official residence at La Fantasie in St Ann’s by April 2007.