Panday complains: The President ignores everything I tell him

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday alleged that President Maxwell Richards paid no attention to him. “The President ignores everything I tell him; I am sure he doesn’t ignore Mr Manning because Mr Manning put him there,” Panday told a news conference at the Opposition Leader’s office. He was at the time criticising the “crime bills” which the Opposition is not supporting. Among other things the Bills would abolish the Police Service Commission and replace it with a Police Management Authority, the members of which are to be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader.

Panday noted that such consultation was a “farce.” The President was not independent, but was “a creature” of the Government, he stated. And  if the President was not independent, and he appointed the Authority, how then could one expect the Authority to be independent? he asked. But Panday also made it clear that the Service Commission system was badly in need of reform. “The President appoints people (on the Commissions) and I understand they drop asleep 15 minutes after the meetings start. You can’t help (it) when you reach that age you fall asleep very quickly. That is the kind of persons being appointed. Can you tell the President anything (about it)? No!” he said. Panday said if one looked at the present composition of the service commissions, one would notice a race and class bias.

That the service commissions system was not working was evident from all the court cases which were being filed against them for discrimination, and which were being lost by the commission, he said. Against this background, he conceded that there might be a case to give the Government greater control. But, he stressed, the question was what provisions were going to be enshrined in the Constitution to prevent any  abuse of this power by the Government. Especially since the Government had stated that it was prepared to use the Police Service and other agencies against its political opponents, he claimed.

Panday said the “crime” bills had nothing to do with addressing crime, but simply sought to give Government more control over the Police Service. The Bill did not provide for greater accountability which was a serious deficiency, he noted. He also added that the public could expect nothing from the PNM Government in terms of addressing the crime problem since there was a “symbiotic relationship” between the administration and criminals. But Panday stressed that the Opposition was open to discussion with the Government on its failure to deal with crime. These discussions must address the issue of unity which was essential in treating not only with crime, but with all the problems confronting the country at this time.

The Opposition Leader also slammed Government’s alleged $5 million ad campaign “of misinformation” and the misuse of State resources for this purpose. And as it launched its own “public information” blitz, the  Opposition called on the Parliament to support it financially. UNC MP Roodal Moonilal said “it was only fair that the Opposition Leader’s office be provided with some measure of support” from the Parliament. Moonilal said the UNC decided that it had to respond to the “vulgar offensive” of the Government which was trying to “instill paranoia” in the population and which was taking advantage of the fact that citizens felt vulnerable. He said the PNM propaganda was an attempt to deflect attention from the murder rate, kidnapping and robbery.  Panday agreed, saying it was a massive “red herring.”