Politicians cannot hide in Parliament

FORMER People’s National Movement (PNM) MP Dr Joe Laquis said any constitutional reform in Trinidad and Tobago must prevent politicians from using parliamentary privilege to unjustly malign the character of honest, law-abiding citizens. The veteran politician also charged the United National Congress (UNC) with blatantly abusing Parliament for that purpose, whether in government or opposition.

On Wednesday, Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh claimed the former Diego Martin Central MP, his son Mark and WASA vice-chairman Rawlingson Agard, were behind a $29 million overpayment by WASA to Waterfarms (Trinidad) Limited. Addressing a news conference at Crowne Plaza on Thursday, Laquis said: “What I have been told is that once it’s stated in the House and properly recorded by the newspaper, there is absolutely no recourse. Which means these dishonourable gentlemen can get up in the House at any point in time, say anything they want and the law abiding citizens of this land have no recourse. “It is one of the things I think we need to take note of in constitutional reform. The system can only work where honesty and honourability take place. If that falls down, the system itself falls down.”

Dr Laquis explained that a fundamental standard of any Common-wealth Parliament “is that you do not lie to the House” and “ in the past six years (under the UNC government) there have been many lies.” Referring to Singh’s allegation against him, he declared: “This one has got to be the most blatant lie.”  Laquis said while the PNM trained its parliamentarians to always respect the rules of Parliament, that training was sadly denied to UNC parliamentarians, who continue to bring Parliament into disrepute. “You must show absolute respect for the House,” he declared, adding that the PNM always showed respect to former House Speakers Hector McClean and Rupert Griffith during the six-year tenure of the Panday regime. Laquis said the present cadre of PNM parliamentarians demonstrated a higher level of diligence and sincerity towards people than their predecessors in the government of Prime Minister George Chambers (1981-1986) and Patrick Manning’s first administration (1991-1995).

Asked about his relationship with Prime Minister Manning, Laquis said he knew Manning since 1977 and while they had their “ups and downs” over the years, there was no aminosity between them.  He also believed House Speaker Barry Sinanan and Senate President Dr Linda Baboolal were very competent and Opposition accusations against them held no substance.