Opposition Leader not aware Manning was meeting the press

Manning held the press conference in a committee room at the Red House during sitting of the House of Representatives shortly after Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar disclosed details of illegal wiretapping, which took place during the previous PNM regime when Manning was prime minister. She said the wiretapping continued even after the May 24 General Election, when the PNM lost at the polls.

Speaking on Sunday, at the end of the 42nd annual PNM Women’s League conference at SWWTU Hall, Wrightson Road in Port-of-Spain, Rowley qualified his confirmation by saying, “any member of Parliament can speak to whoever they want to speak to.”

“If (Manning) feels he has something to say, and he choose to say it on the Parliament floor, or to the press, or whenever, there’s no restraint on that.” Manning reportedly decided to hold that press conference in a committee room adjacent to the Parliamentary Chamber last Friday, after Speaker of the House, Wade Mark, did not allow him to break parliamentary procedure to respond to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar’s SIA statement.

While debate continued in the Lower House, Manning told reporters the present Government was dismantling this country’s security services as pay-back to drug-lords who had financed their campaign for the May 24 General Election.