Panday dismisses Sinanan’s letter

OPPOSITION Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday dismissed as unimportant the letter by the Speaker of the House of Representatives to Government to leave Parliament where it is. Panday said as far as he was aware “there was no official decision taken to relocate Parliament,” and therefore the letter by House Speaker Barry Sinanan advising Government that Parliament should stay at the Red House, was of little importance. “If no decision has been taken to relocate the Parliament, then the matter does not arise.” Newsday reported yesterday that Sinanan as Speaker, who is in charge of Parliament, had written Chairman of the House Committee, Ken Valley, recommending that Parliament stay where it is, until a new building is built to accommodate it.

Sinanan stressed there was a need to be discreet in the decision-making on the matter, because “nothing should be done to diminish the integrity of the nation’s Parliament and undermine its strength and stature as the pre-eminent symbol of our stable democracy.” Sinanan also ruled out the options for the relocated Parliament. Those options included relocating the Parliament to the Cyril Duprey Building, St Vincent Street opposite the PoS Magistrates’ Court, utilising the North Wing of the Red House and Cyril Duprey Building and relocating the legislature from the North to the South Wing.

Meantime, on the issue of this country being ranked number two in the world in terms of kidnappings, Panday observed “under the PNM we are progressing.” He admitted crime was a “big problem” and again called on Government to “unite the country do deal with crime.” Panday said there can be no unity unless an end to discrimination is entrenched in the Constitution. Panday said Prime Minister Patrick Manning was not interested in uniting the country but staying in power. He further said he did not expect the PM to heed his call for them to meet to discuss a holistic approach to deal with crime.