Manning to canvass UNC MPs on CCJ

Stating that he agreed with UNC MP Gerald Yetming, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday that he would be approaching UNC MPs individually in order to get their support for the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Manning also announced that there had been a decrease in kidnappings. He said the police had a “spectacular success” this week. He said he had been talking with National Security Minister, Howard Chin Lee and noted that there had not been a kidnapping in over two weeks. “We are optimistic that this is the new trend. One major kidnapper is behind bars and another will be behind bars shortly and a couple others have been identified and have been targetted by the authorities as they continue their plan to make Trinidad and Tobago safer,” he said. Saying that the police had a clearer idea of who the kidnappers were, Manning said Government was determined to make available to the police service all the resources they require to properly discharge their functions. He said Acting CoP Everald Snaggs had assured him that the police would do all in their power to give the public the best service possible.

On the issue of the CCJ, the Government needs the votes of at least four UNC MPs to pass the legislation establishing the Caribbean Court as the final jurisdiction for Trinidad and Tobago. But Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, whose Government led the campaign for the CCJ to be located in Port-of-Spain, has done an about-turn and is not prepared to back the Bill which requires a special majority. “Sooner or later we are going to have to go to Parliament with the legislation and the Opposition would have to decide whether they support it or they don’t, ” the PM noted. Manning said he agreed with UNC MP Gerald Yetming’s statements that the party’s policy of non-cooperation with respect to the CCJ, the Anti-Kidnapping Bills and Police Management Bills was wrong. But Manning stressed that he was careful to keep “a respectable distance” from the internal affairs of the UNC.

Reminded of what the UNC leader said when he was Prime Minister - once Manning was there (as PNM leader) he would remain here (in the Prime Minister’s chair), Manning smiled, as he was asked whether, based on the recent NACTA poll, the reverse was now true. Manning said that the poll seemed to suggest that there was a symbiotic relationship between Panday and the PNM. On the CCJ, Manning said when the decision was confirmed to establish the Court in Trinidad and Tobago, the UNC Government got the support of the then Opposition Leader (himself) that he would back the court. He said this was done because the UNC recognised that it would look strange to have the CCJ located in a country which did not subscribe to all aspects of its jurisdiction. “And that is exactly what is happening now,” he said, giving the UNC leader’s stance. Manning said he did not accept the argument that Panday’s objection to the CCJ lay in the fact that he had a personal matter before the local courts and preferred to go to the Privy Court than to the CCJ in respect of that matter.