PNM: Don’t count on it

THE OPPOSITION UNC yesterday declared that debarring an eleventh-hour miracle, Government would not pass the Police Reform Bills in the House of Representatives on June 29, but Government expressed equal resolve that victory will be achieved on the parliamentary battlefield and the bills would pass. Speaking during debate in the House of Representatives, Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar slammed Government for wasting State resources and taxpayers’ money by convening Parliament to deal with the Family Proceedings Amendment Bill 2004, “a one-clause bill which removes six words from an act which was fully debated (and passed) as recently as January.” She said, “This is similar to what has happened with the police bills.

They were placed in the other place (the Senate) where the whole nation was told they would be debated on June 29. Lo and behold today we are here, Parliament is summoned and these bills are laid. I am asking are you serious? Do you know what you are doing from one day to the next?” Accusing Prime Minister Patrick Manning and the Government of showing contempt for Parliament, Persad-Bissessar recalled that Parliament agreed on September 5, 2003, to save the work of a parliamentary joint select committee (JSC) on the bills and create a new committee to continue the work on the controversial legislation. “They agreed to that, they signed the JSC report and they brought a motion to this House that the works continue and that a new committee be appointed. The rest is history. It has never happened. They are in flagrant violation of that decision. That is the kind of contempt and disrespect that this Government has been paying towards this Parliament,” she claimed.

“Where is the Minister of National Security when you are seeing crime just running away. I want to repeat what everybody in this country is saying. This is another example of total incompetence on the part of this Government. Call the election now!! Let the electorate decide whether you are fit to govern!!” Persad-Bissessar declared to thunderous desk-thumping from Opposition MPs and surprised expressions from Government MPs. However, Works and Transport Minister Franklyn Khan disclosed that Government was fully prepared for what it knows will be a battle royale to pass the bills on June 29. Winding up debate on the Shipping (Marine Pollution) Bill 2004, Khan said, “Legislation driven by international conventions is really legislation which is bipartisan by its very nature. When you deal with Interpol and police reform you really have to take the same approach. This is the type of legislation which will modernise the whole legislative infrastructure as we proceed into a modern era of economic development and trade. We are mindful as a Government that there must be balanced development.”