Friday, March 12 2010

When, Newsday respectfully asks, can we expect to hear from our Prime Minister Patrick Manning on the Udecott/Calder Hart issue?

We fully appreciate that as chairman of the Commonwealth he had to be in London last weekend for Commonwealth Day.

But today is Friday and we have no idea whether he is in the country or not. We know that he chaired yesterday’s Cabinet meeting and it was reported that he might have later left for a Caricom meeting in Dominica.

Yesterday’s excuse for a post-Cabinet briefing was meant to avoid any of the questions citizens have for the Prime Minister on the Udecott issue which has angered many people. It was clear that the four Cabinet ministers present came prepared to shoot down any questions pertaining to the burning issue of the day. Newsday’s reporter Andre Bagoo who, in our view, has been doing a tremendous job, was at the receiving end of obnoxious behaviour by Information Minister, Neil Parsanlal. Clearly Bagoo is a thorn in the Minister’s side and he believes that by insulting him Bagoo will stop using his investigative skills to expose wrong-doing where he finds it. It won’t work, Mr Parsanlal.

The fact of the matter is that it has been a week since Hart’s sudden flight after resigning and Mr Manning, who has spent the last two years defending Hart at every turn, is yet to be heard.

More than two years ago allegations were raised about Hart. The government responded by giving him more power. Now we hear from Attorney General John Jeremie on Wednesday that he had initiated investigations into Udecott since September. Yet Mr Manning continued to defend Hart.

So, with the country now in uproar we must ask why has Mr Manning not made the time to address this matter but has left it to lesser Ministers to make statements of dubious worth?

We dismiss the inanities mouthed by Planning Minister Emily Dick-Forde, likening criticism of Hart to gangsterism and murder, and daring to preach to us that the country should be ashamed and that the soul of the nation is at stake.

But we are very interested in the Attorney General’s statement that since last September he hired Canadian forensic investigator, Bob Lindquist, to do a criminal probe of Udecott. Was Jeremie’s statement damage control in the wake of the Congress of the People having traced documents linking Hart to two former directors of CH/Sunway who got $820 million in Udecott contracts?

Can we hope that Mr Manning will be in the House of Representatives today where he might clear the air and answer some of the questions from several media houses that were shot down by Parsanlal yesterday?

Shockingly, all we got on the matter from Mr Manning in London was another stout defence of the works of Udecott such as the National Academy for Performing Arts (NAPA), which in our view was totally inappropriate, in the circumstances of Hart’s resignation and flight.

The Udecott saga has provoked such outrage in Trinidad and Tobago — reminiscent of the antics yesteryear of Francis “Boysie” Prevatt and John O’Halloran — that Mr Manning cannot stay silent.

We want Mr Manning to state whether the Uff Report will definitely be laid in Parliament, to state his future plans for Udecott and Hart, to endorse Lindquist’s probe especially in light of Hart’s alleged family links to CH/Sunway, and to review/revisit the special purposes state company model.

More broadly, Manning must also reply to concerns that the whole Udecott mess has severely undermined the credibility and very viability of himself and his Government.

In our view the outrage in the country is so great that if given free vent in a general election, it could likely see the demise of this Government.

Manning must act to before it is too late.