By Clint Chan Tack Sunday, November 9 2008

FINANCE MINISTER Karen Nunez-Tesheira declared on Friday night that the Opposition UNC Alliance was out of place to condemn Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s controversial visit to Radio 94.1 FM offices in Port-of-Spain because their “missing” leader Basdeo Panday committed more grievous sins against the media while he was prime minister.

Speaking prior to the approval of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Order 2008 in the House of Representatives, Nunez-Tesheira reminded parliamentarians that the UNC’s attacks against the media started very early in the former government’s tenure “with ‘Chutney rising’.”

The minister said that was a “tragic” series of events which saw several top journalists being dismissed from their media houses because the UNC disapproved of their work. Referring to earlier attacks against Manning from Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Nunez-Tesheira told Opposition MPs: “To think they would come to lecture the Member for San Fernando East (Manning) about behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. It is tragic to hear the members on that side speak about the issue of democracy.”

She reminded UNC A MPs that the reason why Panday was suspended from Parliament on March 28 was because he disrespected Speaker Barry Sinanan and it had nothing to do with the use or non-use of a laptop computer. Nunez-Tesheira declared that Panday’s behaviour was totally unacceptable and inappropriate as “the Leader of the Opposition and a former Prime Minister of this country.”

“Why the Member for Couva North (Panday) is not here is because of that behaviour they call inappropriate,” she said

“Does that mean the Prime Minister was right?” asked Panday’s daughter, Oropouche West MP Mickela Panday. “We never lock up a Speaker,” Cumuto/Manzanilla MP Harry Partap added.

“It would take the Prime Minister several, several lifetimes to catch up with the Member for Couva North. This is like chalk and cheese,” Nunez-Tesheira countered.

Turning to the order, the minister said earlier contributions by Manning and Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert underscored the point that the Opposition had no basis to quarrel with the objectives of the order.

Reiterating that Government eventually hopes to reduce the $2.4 billion fuel subsidy, Nunez-Tesheira said all the order was seeking to do was give citizens choices that are consistent with the country’s democratic principles where it comes to the type of fuel they use in their cars.

She identified Education Minister Esther Le Gendre as one citizen who made the choice to use diesel fuel in her car. Nunez-Tesheira reiterated the reasons for Government’s focus on CNG and recalled that she found out that most of the buses in Washington DC used CNG. Nunez-Tesheira was in Washington DC recently to attend an International Monetary Fund (IMF) conference which dealt mainly with the global financial crisis.

Earlier in the sitting, Information Minister Neil Parsanlal advised the UNC A to emulate defeated US Republican presidential candidate John McCain by being gracious in defeat and put the country’s interest ahead of its own political agenda.