War in Panday Cabinet over Piarco

MINISTERS of the former United National Congress (UNC) government were bitterly divided over the management of the Piarco International Airport Project and they were trying to destroy one another in order to further their political ambitions. 

This was revealed by former Housing Minister John Humphrey as the Commission of Inquiry into the Project continued at the Caribbean Court of Justice yesterday. Asked by Commissioner Kenneth Sirju why the project’s cost increased from US$65 million to US$105 million, Humphrey said it all had to do with politics. “You find that (politics) does not conform to the law. There are very strange happenings in the world of politics. Politics is about power, not about people; it’s about power. Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is no question. Our system is a power-centric system where absolute power is vested in the Prime Minister,” he explained. Questioned by Commission Chairman retired Chief Justice Clinton Bernard whether then Airports Authority (AA) chairman Tyrone Gopee was right to seek a legal opinion regarding the approval of certain contracts the AA entered into before turning over the project to NIPDEC, even though former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj had already given Cabinet a legal opinion on that issue, Humphrey replied: “I don’t have an opinion to venture what is proper. With the politics, as I recall the politics, with certain people’s ambitions burning in a certain way and with the whole tendency to promote oneself in politics by destroying one’s colleague. All those circumstances considered, I can’t condemn anyone for what was done quite frankly.”

Humphrey said although he was a Cabinet minister, the actions of his colleagues regarding the project left him “very puzzled”. The former minister said the contract for CPs One and Two were supposed to cost US$12.5 million but it was eventually awarded for US$5 million while the contract for CP6a and 6b were awarded for US$33.1 million instead of the original US$38.2 million. “I came to my own conclusions and it would be out of order for me to share those with the Commission. Those are political conclusions,” he added. Bernard advised him that such conclusions would not be entertained by the Commission. Sirju told Humphrey previous studies showed the airport could not support expenditure over US$65 million, it would cost taxpayers US$250 million annually to repay the current expenditure on the project and the AA’s annual revenues could not fill breach the gap. Humphrey said Government planned to establish “one mega-project” at Piarco to manufacture aircraft brakes to gain additional revenues and this “gigantic industry” would have employed 30,000 persons. The former minister explained that Cabinet alone did not decide to boost the project’s expenditure from US$65 million to US$105 million.

 “I believe the decision that the Cabinet took to go ahead and build the airport for US$105 million was a good decision,” Humphrey said. The former minister added that he could not be blamed for any cost overruns on the project and he did the best he could. Bernard complimented Humphrey on his good behaviour at yesterday’s sitting. Also testifying was Ministry of Works and Transport client representative Peter Cateau who denied that Birk Hillman Consultants (BHC) were paid a sum of US$ 400,000 without having done any work. Cateau claimed both BHC and NIPDEC made a lot of payments on account and Ishwar Galbaransingh’s Northern Construction Limited was one contractor on the project who lacked the necessary technical experience. Cateau also revealed that he only took three days’ vacation during his four years and nine months as client representative, and none of the government ministers he interacted with felt his performance was unsatisfactory. The hearing continues today.