Manning: Jamaat still a threat to TT

Acknowledging that there were some people who felt that Government had “too cosy” a relationship with the Jamaat, Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday assured that this was not so. But the Prime Minister stressed that the  maintenance of public peace and safety dictated the way Government reacted to problems presented by the Jamaat and its splinter groups. He said Government was employing a strategy designed to ensure national stability and security. “The stability of the country vis-a-vis the Jamaat is always uppermost in the government’s mind,” the Prime Minister, stated, adding that the mere fact that 1990 occurred once meant that it could happen again. “Therefore we have decided to be safe rather than  sorry,” he said. He said therefore that in some instances the government would be firm (in dealing with the Jamaat) while in other instances it would seek to pacify.

Manning stressed that the Government’s strategy in dealing with the Jamaat had nothing to do with the belief that it could deliver votes at election time. Manning was speaking at his regular post-Cabinet news conference. He said he did not think Government’s strategy was compromising the efforts of the security forces in achieving stability. “The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, as all Governments,  had a responsibility to use whatever strategy it considered right and appropriate to keep the country stable,” Manning said. But Manning denied that certain ministers had been acting as liaisons between the Jamaat and splinter organisations. “If that has taken place, it has taken place without Cabinet authority or the authority of the Prime Minister. I know of no such arrangement,” he stressed. Was Government creating a monster which would eventually devour it? “No such thing would happen. We are unlikely with our eyes wide open to go into any arrangement that would destroy our government,” the PM stressed.

Responding to questions on the decision of Government not to demolish the illegal structure in Laventille, Manning said the attitude of the Town and Country Planning Division, (which operates on behalf of the Minister responsible for Planning and Development) was to get people to make adjustments to illegally constructed facilities in order to bring them within the pale of the law “because we recognise that there is an economic side to it.” He said the construction of the structure was being treated in exactly the same way as the State has treated any other illegal construction. He added that Government had been regularising squatting over the years.

Told that this was not a poor man housing his family but a massive contractor flouting the laws of the land, Manning said when he visited Laventille on Sunday, Government realised that it was the residents who were supporting the move. On the fact that many of the URP bosses were members of the Jamaat and other muslim groups, Manning said it was only the programme director, (the manager of URP)  who was selected by the Government. “The programme employed its own staff,” he said. Manning said members of the Jamaat, as members of all other churches, were citizens and Government had to be careful that it didn’t discriminate against any of its citizens.