ATTACK ON RED HOUSE

The reported decision of Government to evict Parliament from the Red House so that the current restoration work could proceed at a faster pace is not what it seems on the surface.

The real reason is to enable the Prime Minister’s office to take possession as soon as possible of what traditionally has been the seat of our legislature. Do we the people agree to this? Does the Opposition agree to this? Already Opposition Leader Mr Basdeo Panday who has not been consulted, has said it would be a tragedy of immense proportions if the PNM government is able to evict Parliament from the Red House which has been its home for generations. We agree with such sentiment. The report of the eviction carried exclusively in the Sunday Newsday indicates that the Govenrment has little concern about where Parliament is placed as long as it removes itself from the Red House. Pronto! The impression is being created that Parliament can occupy any old building that is available while a new building is either constructed or some other place found for it. Is this the way the Government regards our Parliament?

The Red House is an historic building and one of our national treasures. It has always been the seat of our Parliament. We do not support the Government’s stated intention to remove the Parliament from its historic and traditional home to accommodate the Prime Minister’s desire to have his office there. We built a costly Hall of Justice to give the Parliament more space to accommodate both the House of Representatives and the Senate and it is our understanding that there is sufficient room for the needed support staff and for committee rooms and for the public who go to listen to Parliamentary debates. Even if there is an increase in the number of members there would still be room.

Whitehall was recently renovated at great cost and if it needs more work done on it, let’s just do it but let us leave the Parliament in the Red House. We do not understand Mr Manning’s desire to occupy the Red House other than conceit. If Whitehall is leaking why can’t the Ministry of Works just fix the roof. There is no need to throw Parliament out, fix the Red House and have it taken over by the Prime Minister’s office It might be argued that there is nothing unsual in resiting a Parliament and there are those who would refer to the fact that the first seat of government in Trinidad and Tobago was in St Joseph and later moved to Port-of- Spain. Other countries have resited their governing assemblies but their reasons have certainly carried more weight than an attempt by the Head of Governement to take possession of the city’s landmark which means so much to so many people. In our view Parliament must remain in the Red House and if Mr Manning wants an office bigger than Whitehall let him look for one elsewhere.