Launching of campaigns

Major platform issues such as crime, corruption and that of accountability are certain to come up at today’s launching of the campaigns for the October 7 General Election of the country’s two major political parties — the ruling People’s National Movement and the opposition United National Congress.

The electorate needs to have these issues fully and honestly debated on the respective Party platforms, if it is to sensibly decide whether the PNM or the UNC has sought to deal frankly and effectively with them. In turn, the voters will need to be satisfied that whatever plans each Party unveils today can, not only be realistically achieved, but that there is perceived actual intent to implement them.

The country has been troubled, within recent weeks, by serious allegations of corruption and abuse of public office and public trust made in the current Commission of Inquiry into the Piarco International Airport project against some of its exemplars. Equally serious allegations were made during the course of public hearings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Elections and Boundaries Commission and that into the Biche Government Secondary School.

There are too many unanswered questions which arose out of allegations of corruption and lack of accountability made against certain Cabinet Ministers of the previous UNC Administrations — 1995-2000 and 2000-2001 — and several other public officials, which have not been answered either satisfactorily or at all.

We agree fully, with former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday’s statement made on Thursday that Prime Minister Patrick Manning would have to account for the $17 billion [sic], which Panday claimed was spent by the current Manning Administration within the past eight months. We do not propose to deal with the figure quoted by Panday, questionable as it is.

Neither will we trouble to point out that had he and his Party’s 17 other former MPs done what they had been elected to do on December 10 last year, i.e. guaranteed that Parliament was convened, allowed for and taken part in Parliamentary debates, he would not have had to trouble himself at this time.

We are as one with the former Prime Minister that it is important that there should be accountability. And still on the issue of Panday’s public demand for accountability, we would like Panday to provide the country with a full account of matters relating to his reported multi million dollar account at a London branch of the National Westminster Bank of England.

It is a question that has been in the public domain ever since it was reported that the Integrity Commission had queried why he had not reported it as part of his assets of 2000, when he filled out a statutory declaration, under the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000. The Act, remarkably enough, was introduced by his Administration, when he was Prime Minister, and approved while he was Prime Minister.

We express the hope that now that Panday has come out so strongly in favour of accountability with respect to the spending of $17 billion [sic] of public revenue by the Manning Administration that he will trump and follow suit on the issue of his ‘teenie weenie account’ at National Westminster.

- Newsday