Saturday, August 22 2009

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Hazel Manning ...

THE Ministry of Local Government is keeping an eye on the political wrangling in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation but will not get involved at this time, line minister Hazel Manning said yesterday.

Asked if the ministry would intervene if the row between Chaguanas Mayor Natasha Navas and Deputy Mayor Orlando Nagessar began affecting service to the public, Manning told Newsday, “I will have to watch it some more and then we’ll take a decision. We can’t predict what will happen, but we are watching it and keeping it under consideration.”

The borough’s executive has been divided following Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner’s support for Navas who was elected mayor on July 23. Nagessar is a supporter of UNC political leader Basdeo Panday, whom Warner has been feuding with. On Thursday, Nagessar walked out of a meeting with the keys to his office building after refusing a request to share his office with administrative staff of the corporation.

Nagessar, in defiance of Navas, allowed Panday to use his office for meetings with constituents of Chaguanas West.

Prior to this development, Manning had to seek a legal opinion from Attorney General John Jeremie on the $309,000 which Warner gave to the corporation to pay 54 workers, including litter wardens, who were retrenched by Navas due to a lack of funds. The money was to cover their salaries until the end of the financial year in September.

Manning told Newsday that she had not yet received a legal opinion from Jeremie on the matter. She said, “He’ll work on it. We’ll get it soon.”