UNC ready to declare assets

SOME United National Congress (UNC) parliamentarians have said they are ready to declare their assets and those of their spouses and children to the Integrity Commission. However they expressed bewilderment about former Attorney-General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj’s claim on Wednesday that some of them were opposed to sections of the integrity legislation drafted under the UNC, which ordered parliamentarians’ spouses and children to declare their assets. Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh told Newsday that Maharaj has a duty to publicly identify those MPs who took issue with that part of the legislation. Singh said when integrity legislation came before the Basdeo Panday Cabinet, he could not recall anyone raising objections of the nature now alleged by Maharaj.

However he added that the People’s National Movement (PNM) “has a history” of stalling on integrity legislation, claiming it was the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) which gave life to integrity legislation within the 1976 Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago. “Who is he speaking about? He may have specific persons. We all voted for it,” Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar stated. She explained that the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 could not have been laid in Parliament without Cabinet consensus and that consensus was unanimous. She explained that the process of the legislation coming before Parliament involved it being drafted by the AG’s office,  analysed by the Legislative Review Committee and finally brought before Cabinet for approval. Persad-Bissessar said it was possible some PNM MPs may have expressed concerns about the legislation in Parliament at that time, but she could not recall whether or not this was so. Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said he was not a member of the Cabinet at the time and could not comment on Maharaj’s claims. However Moonilal expressed concern that the PNM “was successful in hoodwinking the population on integrity in public life.” UNC chairman Wade Mark declared that Maharaj was just “whistling in the breeze” because the  declaration forms make provision for the assets of spouses and children. All said they were eagerly awaiting the release of the declaration forms. “The law must be complied with,” Moonilal said.