Panday: Mannings earning $7 million

Panday, speaking at a public meeting at Debe on Friday night, said the killings of five pressmen in Guyana were the end result of a dictatorship government which was introduced by former Guyanese president Forbes Burnham.

Panday said, “As Manning is going after group after group in society he is getting away with it and no one is standing up and one day we would have lost our freedom. That kind of attitude is what led to the recent massacre in Guyana when Forbes Burnham introduced violence into the politics. None of them stood up and people did not protest. Instead those who could ran away. Today that violence has blossomed into the mass murder of journalists who were publishing a paper that those killers and their bosses don’t like.”

The former UNC Chairman said that in the last six years, Manning had converted “a once peaceful and happy society into a place where people live in fear of their lives and property.”

Panday, who is appealing his conviction in May for falsely declaring his assets to the Integrity Commission, told supporters, “You can no longer get a fair trial in the courts. We are now living in a police state.”

On Friday, Manning said he had written to Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo condemning the “dastardly attack” against the employees of the Kaiteur News where five employees were executed on Tuesday night. Manning said that the incident was an attempt to intimidate the press, which he noted ought to always remain free in any democratic state.

Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in his address said that Manning’s government had spent $6 billion on national security, yet citizens did not feel safe. Maharaj, who is leading an eight-day march from Cedros to Port-of-Spain in protest of the construction of an aluminium smelter plant in Cedros, said that the protest was also to make citizens aware of the ills of society. “We are the people with the power. We can fight Manning and have the power to make him bow to our wishes,” he said. Maharaj said that he had extended an invitation to Panday and the UNC Executive to join in the march, but knew that Panday was nursing an injured knee.

Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar in her address said that the Government was violating the sacred obligations of democracy enshrined in the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, and Manning was trampling on the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.

Persad-Bissessar reminded supporters that while the Prime Minister in a breakfast meeting earlier this week said that he was not interested in money, the salary of government ministers had increased three times in the last five years.

Pointing out that Manning and his wife, Hazel — the Education Minister — each received a salary of $48,000 per month plus perks and other allowances, the Opposition Leader said, “When you add his wife’s income to his, you are looking at a household income in cash and perks of $120,000 per month; close to $1.4 million per year by five years which equals $7 million! All that money is to bank. Do you understand why making money on a personal level is not his major focus? Because he has made sure his pocket is full, and he will do whatever it takes to stay in government.”

The UNC is expected to hold their next meeting on Monday night at Bamboo No 2 at Valsayn.