Panday: No talks with Manning planned yet

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday said no meeting had been arranged with Prime Minister Patrick Manning to discuss passage of the Police Reform Bills in Parliament. The UNC leader also expressed suspicion about a Caroni Lands Vesting Bill which Government intends to bring to Parliament shortly.

Panday told Newsday he agreed with St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran’s remarks to Chaguanas businessmen 24 hours earlier that it was important for discussions between himself and the Prime Minister to ensure that any anti-crime legislation which comes before Parliament would serve its intended purpose. “I have been saying that for a hundred years,” Panday declared. He however revealed that contrary to another newspaper report, there has been no communication between Manning and himself (or their respective subordinates) regarding a meeting about the Police Reform Bills. Panday said if any meeting was to take place with Manning, he would like a clearly defined agenda, otherwise the discussions would go nowhere.

The UNC leader said the Opposition would be willing to support the Bills’ passage once Government could assure them that the legislation had the necessary safeguards to prevent the Police Service from being transformed into a tool of the political directorate. On the Caroni Lands Vesting Bill, Panday said the Opposition would deal with the legislation when it comes to Parliament. However he disclosed that the UNC did have reservations about whether this Bill would actually see the fair distribution of the 77,000 land acreage formerly held by Caroni (1975) Limited and particularly, giving former Caroni workers first preference to those lands.

Panday said the UNC always believed that Government’s motive in “destroying Caroni” was to seize the company’s lands and wondered whether this Bill, would allow the PNM to “complete the job.” Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Christine Sahadeo, said the Bill would allow Government to keep its promise to former Caroni workers as well as properly determine how best to utilise Caroni’s lands for agricultural and non-agricultural purposes.