Don’t attack DPP

HOUSE SPEAKER Barry Sinanan yesterday admonished Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath for alleging that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was conspiring with elements in the Government and the Police Service. Ramnath also incurred the wrath of Prime Minister Patrick Manning for claiming that Government was deliberately trying to conceal information from the public about alleged corruption. Ramnath was warned minutes after making the allegation during debate on a private motion by Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the House of Represen-tatives. Quoting from the Standing Orders, Sinanan said: “The conduct of the Governor, Members of the Senate or the House of Representatives, from judges to other persons engaged in the administration of justice, ie the DPP, shall not be raised except upon a substantive motion raised for the purpose.”

The Speaker also had to warn Ramnath against imputing against a Port-of-Spain magistrate and using his (Sinanan’s name) to criticise the Government’s housing policies. “I am only following the rules that were made by all of us and which all the Members must follow,” Sinanan told Government and Opposition MPs. The Prime Minister slammed Ramnath’s assertions, explaining that “all we are trying to do is avoid the fiasco of 1987 (events connected to the Scott Drug Report) occurring all over again. The Commission of Inquiry was designed to point us in the right direction as a consequence of which, following the Commission of Inquiry, a number of investigations began and we are beginning to see action on the basis of those investigations. If you publish the report what you are telling people is that those who may very well be culpable in the matters, that the State is on to you and you better put your house in order,” Manning declared.