Ramnath: Do not put lives in hands of Caribbean jurists

OPPOSITION Member of Parliament for Couva South, Kelvin Ramnath, on Friday night urged government to go to the people and get a referendum on the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Ramnath was speaking at a UNC meeting in Sangre Grande in support of the candidates for the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation in the July 14 Local Government Elections. Ramnath said the people’s views on the CCJ must be sought. He told party supporters they should never put their lives in the hands of Caribbean jurists. He said it was judges like former Chief Justice Clinton Bernard who would be judges in the CCJ. He said if people felt those like Bernard were unfair, wait till they examined judges in other islands. He lamented that TT must remain with the Privy Council until “we are able to demonstrate we can make decisions that are fair, just and right for people.” The CCJ is to be headquartered here in Port-of-Spain and is expected to be inaugurated in November. Ramnath also questioned why Manning was suddenly talking about an executive president, when he was silent on the matter during the 18/18 deadlock. Ramnath alluded that Manning’s talk was in keeping with the PNM’s intention to have “one party rule ... on the road to totalitarian government.” He said if that wasn’t the case, why would the PNM want to win the Local Government elections when it already was in charge of central government. He insisted they had to start their campaign now to control “all institutions” now.

He advised supporters, “We must stop them on the march to autocratic and totalitarian rule” by voting for the UNC on election day. He further warned of house padding by the PNM which would enable them to win the next General Elections. Ramnath said the PNM was not building any houses in their so-called constituencies, but rather only in UNC areas like Pointe-a-Pierre, Caroni Central, Couva, Mafeking and St Joseph. Also returning to the UNC platform was football honcho Austin Jack Warner. Warner said he was supposed to be out of the country until after the elections but he didn’t intend to be ungrateful or be called a “nemakaram” so he was back to join the campaign. He immediately took the opportunity to respond to claims by government minister Danny Montano that the UNC was dying from the inside and would be dead by the end of the year. Warner said, “the UNC is like a lion, it never dies, it might sleep to wake up and rise again.” Other speakers at the meeting were Harry Partap, MP for Nariva, UNC Senator Jennifer Jones-Kernahan and former NAR minister Joseph Toney. Both Toney and Partap alleged that the PNM was bribing UNC supporters and urged them to take the gifts but vote for the UNC. Partap also warned Works Minister Franklin Khan of impending protest action by his constituents over the neglect of their roads.