PM hits ‘improper reporting’

At his first news conference since returning from his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday criticised the reporting of his speech to T&T nationals at Howard University, Washington DC, delivered last Monday (15 December) where he had spoken about kidnapping. Speaking at the Post Cabinet Media Conference at Whitehall, Manning said of his speech: “I notice it has resulted in some concerns here in Trinidad and Tobago about improper reporting of public utterances”. Hoping to lay the matter to rest, he referred reporters and the public to a transcript of his speech carried in the Saturday press. In contrast to a newspaper (not Newsday) headline of “Kidnappings Bogus”, the transcript stated that “A significant number of what has been reported as kidnappings initially and which has led to heightened tensions among the people of Trinidad and Tobago, aren’t kidnappings at all...(but were) something else”.

Manning also told reporters: “The Prime Minister was addressing a foreign audience. One of the things we are determined not to do is that, while we are realistic in our public utterances, we are determined not to be a part of any effort to ‘bad talk’ Trinidad and Tobago outside”. In an apparent reference to the National Security provisions of the National Budget such as the Special Crime Fighting Unit, Manning said: “We recognise what the situation is here. All that we have done suggests that we understand it properly”. While regretting that citizens had been adversely affected by crime, he said:  “We note it will continue to happen for a while, but we also take note of the efforts of the Government to bring greater measures of security to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. I make that point so we don’t get bogged down when we come to the questions. We are not here to discuss crime or kidnappings; we are here to discuss our visit abroad”. One senior reporter, in the later question-and-answer session, suggested that Manning had just cowed reporters into not asking questions about kidnapping and crime.