PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Speaker Wade Mark today reserved his ruling in a contempt of parliament motion brought against former prime minister Patrick Manning following statements he made in Parliament regarding the construction of a private home by his successor, Kamla Persad Bissessar.
Transport and Works Minister Austin “Jack” Warner” had filed the motion after claiming that Manning, who said that the house being built by the Prime Minister was estimated at TT$150 million (US$25 million).
Warner said that the statements made by Manning during the debate on the Interception of Communication Bill last week were a “desperate attempt to demean the Prime Minister in the eyes of her fellow parliamentarians and in the eyes of the general public”.
He said Manning’s statements were also a “reckless abuse of the freedom of speech” guaranteed in the Parliament and that they were aimed also at “deliberately and willfully misleading the House”.
Manning, holding up a picture of a house which he said was being constructed in San Fernando, south of here, by the Prime Minister, said she should open the house to the scrutiny of the media and lay the relevant approvals for its construction in the Parliament.
“Look at it, Mr. Speaker … it is a huge facility and investigations, Mr. Speaker, indicate that this property is larger than the Diplomatic Centre (which also houses the official residence of the Prime Minister),” he told legislators.
“This facility, Mr. Speaker, has more space than the Prime Minister’s residence and, Mr. Speaker, the best estimate that we have, the all-inclusive cost of building this facility is TT$150 million (US$25 million)”.
Earlier, Prime Minister Persad Bissessar told legislators that all the documents regarding the construction of the house had been laid in the parliament and that the queries “could only come from a manic man or a manic mind”.
“I have nothing to hide,” she said, adding that the statements were a ‘deliberate and calculated attempt” at misleading the parliament and that the funds for the construction of the house had come from her husband a medical practitioner and herself, a lawyer.
“I have no problems in putting the facts in the public domain,” she said, adding that all the documents from the relevant authorities dating back to 2003 had been laid in the parliament.
Further, she contended that the three acres of land had been bought before she became a parliamentarian in 1995 and that the Integrity legislation mandates that all legislators file yearly accounts of their finances and other matters.
“I have filed my forms (since 1995) and at all times these documents have been disclosed,” she said, noting that the cost of the house has been estimated at TT$3 million (US$500 000).
In his motion, Warner also contended that statements made by the former prime minister during the debate sought to link the Prime Minister with persons engaged in the illegal drugs trade. (CMC)
