The Opposition will call on the Manning administration in Parliament, on Friday, to list all who obtained government contracts to handle work for the Summit of the Americas, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday says. Parliament was adjourned two weeks ago to facilitate the summit activity.

Panday said when sittings resumed, the Opposition would file the appropriate questions to ensure that Government accounted adequately on the summit to the Parliament, including details of the expenditure and other items. Panday added: “It was a waste of money. Therefore, it’s very important to know who benefited from this summit where local contracts were concerned. “That is not to say we feel an international conference of this kind is not important, because it is important for leaders to meet and discuss problems, etc.

“It was not all a waste, since there seemed to be indication from the US about changes in its foreign policy. There was discussion on Cuba, and there may even be some movements on the US/Venezuelan situation. “But these could have been done in some other country while we deal with our own people’s permission. Government has spent an estimated $1.5 billion, according to reports, to host this conference, which is more than it cost the UNC to build a new airport.

“Money of the kind spent on the event would have been better utilised to provide citizens with much-needed water, hospitals with much-needed beds, infrastructure with improvements to prevent flooding, and the annual problems we see increasing, to prevent traffic gridlock, build factories to employ persons who have been put on the breadline amidst rising unemployment.

“All of this money has been spent on a summit, and at the end of it Mr Manning could not even get leaders to sign the final document. “He alone signed it, and that looked ridiculous.” Asked if Government should rethink hosting the November Commonwealth leaders’ conference, Panday replied: “I don’t think they can call it off now, so Mr Manning has got himself and the country in to this situation.”

‘We’ll learn from the errors’—Browne

Government will learn from the glitches and hitches encountered in the organisational processes of the Summit of the Americas, preparation team leader Mariano Browne says. Commenting as leaders were departing on Sunday night, Browne said: “It went very well. Expectations that things would go wrong didn’t happen. There were some hiccups, yes, clearly organisational details. “We’ll have a debriefing session at the various levels to examine the situation, so that we can learn from the errors and not repeat them.”