PM: BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD FOR INTEGRITY COMMISSIONBy Richardson Dhalai Sunday, September 6 2009
Almost four months after the unravelling of the Integrity Commission which witnessed the resignation of its five members over the space of eleven days, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, continuing his pitch for constitutional reform, says Government has to “go back to the drawing board” if the nation is to have an effective Commission.
Addressing a large crowd of supporters at the “College” of the Mayaro Recreation Grounds, yesterday, Manning also stated that under the draft constitution, Tobago would be given “maximum autonomy within the unitary State of Trinidad and Tobago” saying while work was being done in collaboration with the Tobago House of Assembly, two public meetings were being planned for the sister isle.
In a wide-ranging speech which also touched on parliamentary privilege and Caribbean integration, he told supporters that the draft constitution contained remedies for “every single problem being faced by society” and reiterated that soon the country would witness a series of public consultations which would be used to produce a green paper on constitutional reform.
“We are going to embark on an exercise on consultations, where we are coming around to the people, we are setting up an independent mechanism to do it. It is going to be a team, of people headed by Professor Hamid Ghany of the University of the West Indies coming around discussing this constitution with you,” he told the large crowd of thousands, many bussed in from different points in the country.
“Following this series of lectures we will begin discussions within the PNM, we are in position to begin internal party discussion,” he said.
Manning added, “The draft constitution seeks to address all of the problems of Trinidad and Tobago. The problems of the Service Commission are being addressed here. We have to set a policy designed by the Executive an the Judiciary working together and when that policy is arrived at we give constitutional and legal guarantees to ensure that the over-enthusiasm of any executive never encroaches on the independence of the judiciary,” he said.
And touching on the topic of the Integrity Commission, he said, “The Integrity Commission just is not working and the Government has to go back to the drawing board on the Integrity Commission.”
Also touching on the issue of Caribbean integration, he said before any such integration could take place, Parliament had to pass a law authorising the Government to enter into any relationship with any other regional governments.
Earlier while making his way to the grounds, Manning stopped briefly to speak with placard-bearing members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), led by general secretary John Julien, who said Manning had told him that the union’s concerns were being addressed by Government.
Julien, while saying that the union remained optimistic that a resolution could be reached regarding the collective agreement with TSTT, however noted that the union would be taking an active part in the Tuesday September 8 vigil at Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain.
Also addressing supporters was Health Minister Jerry Narace who promised that the long awaited Scarborough hospital would be completed by April next year while the Point Fortin hospital would begin in the first quarter of next year.
