Political bacchanal as House resumes sittings tomorrow

CARNIVAL is over but political bacchanal continues as the House of Representatives resumes its sittings at 1.30 pm tomorrow. Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal will ask Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift to state Trinidad and Tobago’s position on the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth, whether any other Caricom state shares that view and the reason for Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s absence from the pre-Commonwealth summit meeting in London last December.

Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh follows through by asking Manning, who accompanied him to Spain, the details and cost of Manning’s trips last December to England and Spain, and whether the National Gas Company paid for any aspects of that trip. Singh will also ask the Prime Minister whether he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Repsol CEO Alfonso Cortina on December 11, 2003 in Madrid. The Integrity Commission is investigating the circumstances of Manning’s trips last year to England and Spain. The Prime Minister said he would cooperate fully with the Commission and that he did not benefit personally in any way from those trips.

Arising out of those trips, British energy companies British Petroleum and British Gas and Spanish company Repsol indicated that they would be increasing their involvement in the local energy sector. Repsol went further by pledging assistance to the new University of TT and donating four medical vehicles to the TT Red Cross. Labour Minister Larry Achong will be called upon to say whether or not Cabinet has taken a decision on the possible relocation of the Cipriani Labour College. Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar renews her interrogation of Education Minister Hazel Manning with questions about the cost of media advertisements by her Ministry from January 2002 to the present and the number of schools receiving computers over that same period. Listed for debate on tomorrow’s House Order Paper is the Meterology Bill 2004 and St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming’s motion on discrimination.