PM: Cabinet to discuss Landate next week

Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Prime Minister dismissed claims by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar that he had reneged on his promise to lay the report in Parliament.

In seeking to have the Lower House debate the report as a matter of urgent public importance, Persad-Bissessar drew a subtle reference to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Project, when she alleged that there was mounting public concern that the report (into the Scarborough Hospital project) "may be sanitised if it is not laid in this House at the earliest opportunity."

In response, Manning confirmed to the Lower House that he had received the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Scarborough Hospital project. The Prime Minister said the report had not gone to Cabinet yet and "should go to the Cabinet by next week Thursday."

"After which, in accordance with the commitment that was given at the time it (the commission of inquiry) was established, the report will be laid in Parliament at the earliest opportunity thereafter," Manning said.

When the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Scarborough Hospital commission of inquiry at an October 24, 2004, Whitehall news conference, he pledged that Government’s intention was "to maintain transparency and satisfy the nation to 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, we will make public," Manning said.

During the 2004/2005 Budget debate in Parliament on October 14, 2004, Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh alleged that labour and materials from the Scarborough Hospital construction site in Signal Hill were being transferred to a private sector project in Mason Hall called Landate, which was owned by Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s family. Rowley said he was innocent of the charges being made against him and was one of 15 witnesses to appear before the commission of inquiry when it held public hearings from July 11 to August 5.

Deputy Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux ruled that Persad-Bissessar’s matter did not qualify as a matter of urgent public importance under the Standing Orders of the Lower House. Bereaux made similar rulings for motions brought by UNC MPs Manohar Ramsaran and Dr Adesh Nanan about school places for students who sat this year’s CXC examinations. Ramsaran accused the Education Ministry of discrimination in the matter.