PM not a private person

The public should have been officially informed, as of right, of the possible danger posed to Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Minister of Trade Kenneth Valley when the Coast Guard aircraft in which they were travelling from Barbados to Trinidad on January 8 reportedly nosedived and plummeted several thousand feet. The Prime Minister is not a private person and for that matter neither is Minister Valley so that when an incident such as this occurs the public has a right to know, to be informed of the reasons why this took place, and the extent of the possible danger in which the Prime Minister and Mr Valley had been placed. In addition, it is entitled to know what preventive measures have been instituted to prevent a possible recurrence. It should be briefed also on the examinations conducted on the engines of the plane and whether the aircraft has been certified, according to international standards, as being fit once again.

It may have been just possible that there may have been a minor malfunction, or that although the Coast Guard aircraft was in and still is in excellent shape that its reported falling several thousand feet while on a routine trip had been due to unfavourable weather patterns. In turn, the public is equally entitled to know whether the change in the weather system, could have and indeed had been forecast and the necessary defensive steps taken. Planes can and do fall hundreds and thousands of feet, almost without warning, in adverse conditions, and normally this would not be taken up as an issue of concern by the media. This can take place, for example, when an aircraft, considerably larger than the type of aircraft used by the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, and on routine trips, say from Miami to New York. The difference of course is that the flight was over the sea. An even greater difference is that the Prime Minister and Head of Government of Trinidad and Tobago was on board the Coast Guard plane and his presence the raison d’etre for the flight.

Meanwhile, even though it is commendable that Minister Valley was able to sleep through the incident in no way minimises its importance as far as officialdom’s recognition of the public’s right to have been informed. Indeed, if Mr Valley can fall asleep on the relatively short plane ride from Seawell to Piarco International Airport and sleep through an aircraft’s plunging several thousand feet, we say bully for him. But then, as the Trade Minister has told us he has the capacity to sleep very easily. Prime Minister Manning was, however, not that fortunate and reportedly began praying when the plunging of the aircraft was taking place. It would appear, too, that the Prime Minister, a born-again Christian, and perhaps out of consideration for his Trade Minister, must have prayed somewhat softly as Minister Valley’s easy sleep had been in no way disturbed.

Recently, various ministries have been publishing advertisements in the print media, arising out of the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to alert the general public with respect to their (the ministries’) requirements under the Act. We note this only in passing. No passage of any Act was required, however, which would have demanded that information re the reported Coast Guard plane incident should have been made public knowledge. It is convention that deems this to be both necessary and automatic. Meanwhile, in an unrelated story appearing on Page 5A of Friday’s issue of Newsday, the same page as the articles dealing with the Prime Minister’s Barbados-Trinidad flight, Cabinet’s approval of a planned $171 million upgrade of the Coast Guard to protect this country’s borders against incursions from international narcotics and arms traffickers, was featured.

We have no doubt that a not insubstantial part of this sum will be allocated to new and larger aircraft for the Coast Guard, and we express the hope that the Ministry of National Security will be keeping the nation abreast of its success in protecting the nation’s borders. But this apart, the National Security Ministry, hopefully, will also concern itself with prompt and full disclosure of any such incident as reportedly happened just over a week ago.