JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Volney: My hands are clean

by

20100429

Ju­rist-turn-politi­cian Her­bert Vol­ney last night stout­ly de­nied Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning's dark al­le­ga­tions of be­ing in­volved in wrong­do­ing. "He is ly­ing, he is a des­per­ate man," Vol­ney said, in re­sponse to Man­ning's claims that he was the sub­ject of in­ves­ti­ga­tion by the se­cu­ri­ty ser­vices. He stressed that he had nev­er act­ed in­ap­pro­pri­ate­ly. He vol­un­teered that he has a bank mort­gage on his home, and added that he was now un­em­ployed, hav­ing re­tired a day ear­li­er as a High Court judge. Vol­ney, in a free-speak­ing in­ter­view with CNC3's an­chor­woman Shelly Dass-Clarke, slammed Man­ning, say­ing he no longer trusts him.

"I once trust­ed him," said the ex-ju­rist, who re­vealed that he had pre­vi­ous­ly vot­ed for the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM). He said he now trusts UNC leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who, he added, "stands for change." Vol­ney, who was con­firmed yes­ter­day as the Op­po­si­tion's can­di­date for St Joseph, said if he is of­fered any pub­lic of­fice by Per­sad-Bisses­sar, he would, "in all hu­mil­i­ty, ac­cept." Asked how he would per­form as At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, he re­tort­ed: "Much bet­ter than John Je­re­mie!" He stat­ed: "Er­ic Williams (T&T's first Prime Min­is­ter) could not hear and had the hu­mil­i­ty to buy a hear­ing aid. "Patrick Man­ning does not lis­ten and would not buy a hear­ing aid. "If he had lis­tened, the coun­try would not have been in the mess in which it is in."

Vol­ney said that there is "an al­most to­tal break­down of the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem." He said the case list was get­ting longer and that, in many in­stances, ju­ries were let­ting crim­i­nals go free. He said if he be­comes a Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, he would lis­ten to con­stituents.

"Many MPs do not lis­ten to the peo­ple," he chid­ed. Vol­ney said he had a sin­gle con­ver­sa­tion with UNC of­fi­cials–whom he did not iden­ti­fy –and af­ter that con­sult­ed fam­i­ly mem­bers about be­com­ing an elec­tion can­di­date. With "crunch time" get­ting close, he said he "took a leap of faith" and de­cid­ed to jump in­to the po­lit­i­cal fray.

He took the de­ci­sion, he said, af­ter de­liv­er­ing judg­ment in a crim­i­nal con­tempt mat­ter. "I need to bring light and I couldn't do that from the Bench," said 56-year-old Vol­ney. He stat­ed that he was not a mem­ber of UNC, and, in fact, he would not have been able to find par­ty head­quar­ters, Rien­zi Com­plex, at Cou­va, if he did not have di­rec­tions. Vol­ney termed the UNC "the on­ly ves­sel of change in the coun­try." The Guardian un­der­stands that Vol­ney was grilled for close to an hour by the UNC's screen­ing com­mit­tee.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Percival Arthur Sukhbir

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Isaiah Cumberbatch, better known as Rodey the Entertainer, is a popular comedian and performer.

Percival Arthur Sukhbir

Rodey the Entertainer: A decade of laughter and love

Yesterday
Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

RISHI RAGOONATH

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

Stephen Boodoo, a proud father of two daughters—seven-year-old Skylar and four-year-old Seanna—is a welding inspector from Penal. He shared, “Father’s Day means having two beautiful daughters and waking up every day to them saying, ‘Love you, Daddy.’” “Becoming a father changed my life in many ways. With fatherhood came greater responsibility—and even greater love. The best part of having two girls is the constant love and kisses I get every single day.”

RISHI RAGOONATH

Honouring our dads: Happy Father’s Day

Yesterday
Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Antony Scully

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Kent Western and his wife, Anna, with their sons, Talon, left, Axel, front, and Eric.

Antony Scully

TSTT CEO Kent Western raising men, leading with love and purpose

Yesterday
Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

ROGER JACOB

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

Caretakers and supervisors for the Credo Home for Boys, Alwin Hunte, left, and Makemba Whitley.

ROGER JACOB

Fathers by choice: The men who raise forgotten boys

Yesterday