Moonilal: Ministers ‘at war’ with Manning

DENYING that the UNC ever created a document targetting Afro-Trinidadian males for special treatment, Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal countered that Government Ministers Colm Imbert and Dr Keith Rowley were “at war” with Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

Speaking during Private Members Day in the House of Representatives yesterday, Moonilal said Government did not regard a motion filed by St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming seriously because “they sent out the class clown.”  Referring to a divergence of views among Manning, Imbert and Rowley over the issue of COSTAATT, Moonilal declared: “What is Government’s policy? They (Imbert and Rowley) are at war with their Prime Minister.” He dismissed Imbert’s statement about the UNC creating a document which identified young African males for special treatment. Moonilal said the June 2000 report referred to by Imbert was commissioned by the World Bank, but written by local consultants. “That report was not written at Rienzi Complex,” he said. However, Moonilal added that he was not about to deny the contents of that report and declared that “the objectives of COSTAATT were en-shrined in law.” He accused the PNM of trying to “turn the education system into a social system” and wondered if  “the list for university” was being written at Balisier House.

The UNC MP slammed Imbert for continuing the “blame game” and said that the game reached the “height of lunacy” this week with Manning accusing the Opposition of masterminding bomb and death threats. Moonilal declared that Yetming should be hailed for raising the issue of discrimination in Parliament because in other parts of the world, “people discuss discrimination on the streets with weapons.” The UNC MP rejected Imbert’s charges of questionable enrollment at the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology (TTIT) and described Central and South Trinidad as “multi-cultural communities.” Moonilal reminded Imbert that as line minister for TTIT, he (Imbert) had “to deal with it.”