Tuesday February 9th, 2010
- Last update:14 hours 24 min ago
Rowley tells Govt to save Uff probe:
Lay bill in House today
Published: 7 Sep 2009
Dr Keith Rowley
Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley is calling on the Government to act swiftly to save the Uff Commission of Enquiry into the Construction Sector. The inquiry was scheduled to resume this morning at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain, but this was now unlikely as the commission was said to be illegal. This, as the Government failed to publish the commission of enquiry in the Gazette. Commission chairman John Uff is expected to speak about the development at a news conference this morning. Rowley said it was now necessary for the Government to urgently table a Validation Bill in Parliament, seeking to legalise the work of the commission.
Rowley said the failure to publish the commission in the Gazette was “shocking and very serious, but not fatal.” He said he was certain the Government was “a responsible one” and he was confident it would “take the necessary action to ensure that the matter was remedied quickly.” Rowley noted that this type of oversight had happened in many Commonwealth countries from time to time, but it was now important that the mistake be corrected as soon as possible. He said millions of taxpayers dollars had already been spent on the inquiry and the work should not go in vain. Rowley said the Government should seek to have the matter debated and approved in Parliament, as early as today—Budget Day—and in the Senate at the earliest date after that.
“The matter should be brought to the Parliament tomorrow and debated for a couple of hours after the 2010 budget presentation by the Finance Minister and passed and taken to the Senate as early as possible and also passed, so the work of the commission can continue,” he added. Rowley said if the issue was not rectified, a legal challenges can be made to the commission and others, including reporters. And Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday is questioning whether the failure to publish the inquiry in the Gazette was a deliberate act on the part of the Government.
“Was it deliberate or an accident?” he asked yesterday. “I ask that because the Government did not want the inquiry initially. When they were forced to set up the inquiry, I said nothing will come out of it and it seems as though I am going to be right.” Asked if the Opposition would support legislation to validate the work of the commission, Panday said he had to wait and see what the bill contained before supporting or not supporting it. Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives Colm Imbert was said to be reviewing the 2009/2010 national budget when attempts were made to reach him for comment yesterday.
I agree with Mr. Rowley's
I agree with Mr. Rowley's call in attempting to take this to Parliament in the form of a Validation Bill to save this Commission of Enquiry from callapsing. If this is a legal option. We have invested huge amounts of time and money and this is important for the country. Unfortunately, Mr. Rowley, even though Mr. Manning was not in favour of calling this Enquiry, he eventuaally did as he saw an opportunity to 'Get Rowley'. But from the start we have seen such shenanigans displayed that we were holding our collective breaths, and crossing our fingers, that at the end of the day this Enquiry will be completed, efficiently: That the truth will be exposed and the country will know the facts.
Now this thing about publishing in the Gazette which somebody forgot or intentionally ignored doing, have us over a barrel. How can a government function in this manner in a democracy? Are we really a democracy, or simply a 'banana republic'?
Surely, this cannot be an
Surely, this cannot be an oversight. Nah, we have a brainy Attorney General who is a stickler for detail and a 'half' of the Cabinet are lawyers. If it's indeed an oversight, then no wonder we're in the trouble we're in! Nah!
ajfyzabadbutlertown
Like the Government
Like the Government following the lead of Max Richards - yuh know the sort of -'Ooops a make ah mistake.. tuh err is human eh' - kinda crap!
Rowley, how do you know that
Rowley, how do you know that the non-publication of the COI was not deliberate as a tactic to see the direction in which it was heading & have a back passage through which to abort it in case they did not like what they were hearing? They arranged for Israel Khan to shoot himself in the foot, tried the same with others & now they are on their fall-back position. Since when is this Gov't known to act swiftly? Only when it is in their own interest. And is Uff in their interest?
Epsomsalts, like you use up
Epsomsalts, like you use up the people gazette paper or what?
ajfyzabadbutlertown
Meh belly still huttin' me
Meh belly still huttin' me from all dis kankalang and smartman moves dat going on in dis place.
Dis eh no "oops, ah make ah mistake" ting, dis was a deliberate attempt from de start to waste we money on a big pappy show, den to show we who is real borse. Calder Hart runnin' dis country man. Runnin' it to de ground. An widd de blessings of top top people to boot.
"Grrrt..." dat was meh belly acking up again... "Mabel!!! Pass de gazette paper an de jug of water please!!! Dis gripe real huttin' meh belly..."
http://dsaltsman.blogspot.com/
Dsaltsman, Wet paper does
Dsaltsman, Wet paper does cut too, so careful!!
ajfyzabadbutlertown
...ah yes...old JJ the Fixer
...ah yes...old JJ the Fixer is back on the job...watch for the impending demise of the commission....smoke and mirrors galore...
Ah wonda if dis is why de
Ah wonda if dis is why de local contractors get de offer of de olive branch?
Ent?
Socrates Having worked for a
Socrates
Having worked for a number of governments in a foreign parliamentary democracy, surely those advising the government of Trinidad and Tobago cannot be so foolish as to bring this inquiry to an end. A bit of free advise for the Opposition Parties, you may in fact want this to happen! The Opposition should force one of its members to resign and force a by-election on the issue and cause the government to realize that its people unlike its Ministers of Government are not puppets! However, this assumes that the Opposition Party and Leader of Trinidad and Tobago is in fact capable of leading, and this we all know to well not to be true. History speaks! It is time for a third capable party in Trinidad and Tobago. The Isley Brothers once sang: Fight the Power. So did Public Enemy.
Rowleeeey seeking brownie
Rowleeeey seeking brownie points--he want to cash in on the pnm leadership as manning days are over-cancer killing him!! roweleey wants to protect his Tobago empire that he thief with our Trinidad Treasury $$ BILLIONS!!!panday should shut up & go into the wilderness & pray that his legacy would be written in history!he did us miracles with $ 10 a barrel for oil!!(no other Caribbean country has an airport like Trinidad built with $10 a barrel)Now Manning had $150 US a barrel & they all thiefing our BILLIONS $ from the treasury) Manning building empty stadiums,empty high rise & living in luxury in the PM residence! we'll all go 6 ft under!! we have to leave something for the generations to come-our grands,great grands etc must have something!! OUR Heritage Fund initiated by UNC(panday) must be protected!!!People must see the light at the end of the tunnel & get rid on PNM & UNC!!!!!