Landate report heads for Parliament

Speaking with journalists following a function at the Crowne Plaza Hotel yesterday, the Prime Minister said the report will ultimately be laid in Parliament.

Asked if he had received a copy of the Commission’s report, which was submitted to President George Maxwell Richards on August 19, Manning replied, "I do in fact have it. I have not read it." Asked if Government would lay the report in Parliament, the Prime Minister said, "That’s a matter for the Cabinet to decide, but that certainly is our intention."

The entire Scarborough Hospital/Landate affair erupted during the 2004/2005 Budget debate in the House of Representatives on October 14, 2004, when Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh accused Dr Rowley of siphoning off labour and materials from the construction site of the new Scarborough Hospital at Signal Hill to a private sector project in Mason Hall called Landate.

During the sitting, Singh produced several documents to support his claims and even provided the Prime Minister with a photo. The Chief Whip alleged that the documents proved that NHIC was sending labour and materials from the hospital site to Landate from September 2003 to April 2004. Addressing a news conference during the tea break of that sitting, Rowley declared that he was innocent of UNC allegations of corruption made against him, and had the evidence to prove his innocence. He said he was the victim of a vicious UNC smear campaign.

At a news conference on October 22, 2004, at Whitehall, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of a three-member Commission of Inquiry into the award of State contracts to NHIC and Warner Construction since the PNM returned to office in 2001. The allegations against Rowley were also referred to the Integrity Commission. Manning said Government’s intention was to "maintain transparency and to satisfy the population of the rectitude of our own cause and the fact that we are not prepared to cover up. We are here to investigate honestly and, whatever the results of the investigation are, we will make public."

The three-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by retired Justice Annestine Sealy (who headed the Commission of Inquiry into the Biche High School), was appointed by the President on May 5, and held public hearings from July 11 to August 5 at the Caribbean Court of Justice building on Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain. Among the 15 witnesses who testified before the commission were Rowley and UNC activist Barrington "Skippy" Thomas. Singh did not testify before the commission. NHIC withdrew from the proceedings and, subsequently withdrew from the Scarborough Hospital project. Contacted yesterday, Rowley told Newsday that he was unaware that the commission’s report was now in the Prime Minister’s hands. Asked if he had any comment to make on the matter, Dr Rowley replied, "My position is very clear." Efforts to contact Singh for comment were unsuccessful.