A Commission of Enquiry is the most appropriate way to probe the Paria tragedy which left four divers dead but the members must not be rushed.
This is the view of Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan following an announcement by the Prime Minister that the five-person investigative committee appointed by Government had been scrapped in favour of a CoE.
The committee was named last Thursday and had not yet started its work.
However, after stinging criticism from the opposition, member Eugene Tiah bowed out.
Hours later, Dr Keith Rowley, speaking at an installment of ‘Conversations with the Prime Minister’ on Tuesday night, revealed the committee will now be replaced with a three-member Commission of Enquiry.
“The population has been so riled up into not accepting any work that it would have done it is a waste of time now,” Rowley said.
According to Sinanan, “Under the Commission of Enquiry Act, the commission has the right to call for witnesses, documents, subpoena witnesses and make recommendations not only limited to culpability but make strong recommendations on what should be done to avoid a further occurrence of the incident.”
He said that an investigative committee, appointed by the Government, has no powers of coercion and only reports to the Government.
He said it is up to the Government to decide whether to make the document public.
He further explained that a Commission of Enquiry is installed by the President, on her own volition or on the advice of the Prime Minister, and has a statutory obligation. The commission’s findings are put to the public and the Government.
Responding to the decision, Opposition chief whip David Lee told Guardian Media he was surprised that Rowley heeded their call.
“The same speed he said it, there should be some alacrity with initiating this commission so that the public and the families could feel that justice is being served,” Lee said.
The work of a commission can go on for months or even years and could cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
However, Sinanan said it is important that the commission gets time to do its work and each member has experience in the energy and marine sectors.
“I understand that the family and so on will want quick and very expeditious resolutions to the findings but at the same time the issue goes beyond the families. It is something that affects the country generally because that is an asset of the country that will continue to operate and so you’ll want the fullest possible investigation in terms of the evidence and the recommendations,” he said.
Lee said justice should be served one way or the other.
“The TTPS has to investigate that matter separately and apart from the Commission of Enquiry, so that does not negate the families getting justice,” he said.
Sinanan also advised both the Government and the Opposition to keep politics out of the matter.
“This was a national tragedy in which lives were lost. The politicians ought to really put it beyond the political debate and come together and see what really is at the core or caused this problem, what are the recommendations for it to be solved in the future and the parties culpable,” he said.
“We have a culture in Trinidad and Tobago of not acting on reports even though we appoint a Commission of Enquiry, that is really to assuage the national concern that a particular incident generates like a Commission of Enquiry into the (1990 attempted) coup and so on but nothing has come out of it,” he added.
