By RIA TAITT, www.newsday.co.tt

The issue involving the divergence of views on the COSTAATT issue between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Planning Minister Dr Keith Rowley appears to have been resolved.

Sources stated yesterday that the matter was resolved following an exchange between the two protagonists at the start of yesterday's Cabinet meeting. The discussion was not long but by the end of it the matter was put to rest, sources said. And Manning, speaking at the post-Cabinet press conference on the matter, seemed to convey the same sentiment, saying that it was not in anybody's interest to prolong the discussion "especially in circumstances where attempts were being made to put one Cabinet member against the next, in particular one Cabinet member against the Prime Minister. "Dr Rowley was at pains this morning in a television interview to clarify that position and there is nothing further that I can add to the issue and therefore I propose to make no further comment on it," the Prime Minister stated. Asked how he proposed to deal with members of the Cabinet who held views which were different from the Government's position and who aired those views publicly, Manning said the Cabinet operated on the basis of consensus, after there was full and ample discussion on any issue. He said there was and there would always be divergence of views in the Cabinet.

On the criticism from Selwyn Cudjoe that Government backtracked on the COSTAATT issue and that Indian teachers were not teaching African children with the same enthusiasm, Manning said the Government did not propose to get directly involved in the debate on race taking place in the society. He said while there would be those who felt that the Government had not said enough or had not gone far enough, Government was very careful about any intervention on its part in matters of this nature. "Our job is to unify the society," he said. In reference to statements made by Independent Senator Professor Ramesh Deosaran, Manning said Government's education policy was designed to ensure equity in the society.