By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Government wants the national community to believe that the Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Cabinet is the only solution to the investigation relating to the deaths of the four underwater divers.
This is according to Opposition Member of Parliament for Couva South Rudranath Indarsingh.
On Sunday, Indarsingh during the Opposition’s weekly press conference said, “The Prime Minister and his government want all of us to believe that the Commission of Enquiry appointed by the Cabinet, appointed by the Government is the only solution and that is why we believe that this is to cover up the blood on their hands and to protect the prime minister’s friends.”
Last week, attorney Gerald Ramdeen spoke at length about the situation that has engaged national attention in which Kazim Ali Jr, Yusuff Henry, Fyzal Kurban and Rishi Nagassar all died while working at sealine at Berth 6 operated by the Paria Fuel Trading Company.
One diver survived, Christopher Boodram.
The Couva South MP presented many documents including an autopsy report on Ali Jr which indicated that the men could have been alive for a maximum of 36 hours inside the pipeline.
Indarsingh referred to that presentation that was also being done around the same time Minister of Energy Stuart Young was also speaking about the Commission of Enquiry mandated to do an investigation.
Young said then that Queen’s Counsel Justice Dennis Morrison should be arriving in Trinidad on April 18 to be sworn in as chairman of the commission.
Ramdeen had called for the Government to scrap the Commission of Enquiry and instead called for independent investigations by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA).
Indarsingh said the country was not aware of the composition of the investigative team under the OSHA and if they were contracted.
“Will their contract expire during the tenure of this investigation?” he asked.
Referring to the investigation into the 2021 NiQuan explosion that occurred in 2021, Indarsingh asked how many industrial accidents have not been fully investigated and reported.
He also questioned why Labour Minister Stephen McClashie was silent on the entire matter.
