PORT-OF- SPAIN, Trinidad – Former prime minister Patrick Manning last night questioned where Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar is obtaining funds to construct what he described as “Kamla’s palace” in south Trinidad.
Holding up a picture of a house which he said was being constructed in San Fernando, south of here, Manning in his first major contribution to Parliament since he was booted out of office in the May 24 general election, said that Persad Bissessar should open the house to the scrutiny of the media and lay the relevant approvals for its construction in the Parliament.
Manning was speaking on the Interception of Communications Bill that the government introduced in the Parliament providing that lawful interception of communication can only be done by means of a judicial warrant, applied for in writing by an authorised officer and issued by a Judge after he has taken a number of factors into consideration.
The new legislation was tabled after Prime Minister Persad Bissessar last week announced that the SIA (Security Intelligence Agency) had been illegally tapping the phones of several prominent people including members of the judiciary, media, sports personalities, parliamentarians and even a comedienne.
“This picture, Mr Speaker, is a photograph of a house under construction on the San Fernando … It is a house owned by the Member for Siparia and the Prime Minister, the Honourable Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and in San Fernando we call it ‘Kamla’s palace’,” Manning said, holding up the photograph.
“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 $150 million (US$25 million)”.
Asking the public to bear “Kamla’s palace” in mind, Manning went on to stress the importance of special intelligence agencies in the fight against crime and the drug trade.
He said the SIA and the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT) played an important part in this fight and went further to defend these agencies that “worked very well”.
Manning said the decision by the six-month-old government to cancel the purchase of three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) was tantamount to “interfering with a carefully laid strategy to protect the Eastern Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago from the influence of the drug dealers”.
Manning said the new legislation will undermine the security of the State and predicted an increase in criminal activity, including kidnappings.
In his contribution, Manning queried the large amount of money used in the People’s Partnership election campaign for the general election.
“I have been involved in many election campaigns in my life, I have never seen any election campaign like that last one, in which money was clearly not a problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, government and opposition legislators will meet next week to go over the new legislation after the Leader of Government Business, Dr. Roodal Moonilal said that there will be an inter-parliamentary committee which will discuss changes to the bill. (CMC)
