Hectic week for Parliament

TOMORROW is the start of a hectic week for Trinidad and Tobago’s parliamentarians with one session of the Senate and two sessions of the House of Representatives scheduled within the space of four days.

When the Upper House meets at 1.30 pm tomorrow, Education Minister Hazel Manning will attempt to continue where she left off, answering questions from the Opposition UNC pertaining to credit cards for the purchase of school text books. Whether she will be able to do so without incurring the wrath of Opposition Senator Robin Montano remains to be seen and the Minister may have to rely upon Montano’s brother, Legal Affairs Minister Danny Montano, to ride to her rescue as he did during last week’s sitting of the Senate.  UNC Senator Sadiq Baksh may attempt to ask Attorney-General John Jeremie about matters pertaining to Canadian forensic investigator Bob Lindquist’s probes into alleged corruption in TT.

At a post-Cabinet news conference on January 2, Jeremie disclosed that Government’s investigations into alleged corruption under the UNC had taken it to foreign jurisdictions and Government was receiving good cooperation from the territories involved. Last Sunday, Newsday was reliably informed that arrests arising out of recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project are imminent. Several key persons in that project have reportedly fled TT and one has allegedly migrated to Costa Rica and allegedly paid US$1 million to secure citizenship there. Baksh, who was Works Minister during the initial phases of the project, refused to appear before that Commission. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives sits from 10 am with a meeting of the Finance Committee, following which there will be debate on the National Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2004. The Lower House meets again on Friday at 1.30 pm for its regular weekly session.