Mark: TT should seek its own interest first

So stated UNC Senator Wade Mark during the debate on the ACS Privileges and Immunities Bill in the Senate yesterday.

Mark said he understood that a less than pleased Manning told certain Caribbean countries, ‘‘We does feed you all, and you all ungrateful to sign PetroCaribe.’’

Mark observed that Manning acted in the same way recently when he singled out certain MPs in the House of Representatives telling them "jail ain’t nice."

Mark argued that Manning’s policy towards Caricom was very confused and inconsistent.

First the PM talked about political union with St Vincent and Grenada, now he was advocating a United States of the Caribbean, the UNC Senator noted. Mark also claimed that for the first time there was no Minister of Foreign Affairs at the US Embassy’s July 4 celebrations. "It was a big insult to America," he said, adding that this government did not care about the United States.

"But my presence lent great credibility to the event," he said, causing chuckles in the chamber. He said the US was aware that the UNC recognised the importance of maintaining good relations.

Mark wanted to know what benefit Trinidad and Tobago — which lobbied rigorously for the ACS headquarters (and was now doing the same for the FTAA headquarters) — got from having the ACS located here. Did it provide us with any extra political and economic space? he asked. He noted that ten years after the creation of the ACS, Government was still to construct a headquarters for the Association. Which landowner "was in PNM’s backpocket," receiving rent for the last ten years? he wondered. "Was it Rahael, Hadeed, who?" Mark asked.

Mark said it seemed that the ACS was a "dead organisation" since nobody heard anything about it. He said Government seemed intent in "chasing after one dead organisation after another." It was "whistling in the dark," spending millions to canvass support for the FTAA headquarters, when it was clear that 2020 would come and there would still be no FTAA.

Noting that under the bill, Government was required to provide protection to the ACS headquarters, Mark said how come Government give this guarantee when Government couldn’t even protect its own citizens. He said the way the murder figures were climbing, PNM by the end of its term, would have presided over the murder of over 1,000 citizens.