‘We are not afraid of the Parliament neither are we afraid of the courthouse’ – Dr Keith Rowley
By Sue-Ann Wayow
PARLIAMENT is expected to meet for a special session next Wednesday to deal with the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act of which there seems to be a flaw in a particular clause.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made the announcement on Thursday night that he directed the Leader of Government Business to recall the Parliament on July 19.
He said, “Today, I have directed the Leader of Government Business to recall the Parliament on Wednesday of next week.”
“We are not afraid of the Parliament neither are we afraid of the courthouse,” Dr Rowley said.
Dr Rowley admitted there were issues with the law which needed to be rectified.
His announcement comes after two pre-action letters have been sent to Attorney General Regniald Armour and Finance Minister Colm Imbert asking for a response in relation to Clause 5 of the amended Bill that an Order under subsection 5 shall be subject to negative resolution of Parliament.
The letters were sent after Member of Parliament for Barataria/San Juan Saddam Hosein revealed last Sunday that the word “negative” supposed to be “affirmative” and that a vote was needed before action could be taken.
The same procurement procedure applied to purchasing lunch or fixing a broken pipeline which sometimes could entail months just to get a bale of toilet paper, Dr Rowley said.
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He said, “With the law seeking to go that way, the law was passed with something called “an affirmative action is required” meaning that it must be voted upon (and) carried by the majority.”
Dr Rowley said also that going to vote on an item that needed the majority vote was wasting Parliament’s time since Government already had the majority vote.
“Coming to the Parliament to get the majority to vote on it is just to come to Parliament to waste Parliament’s time in most instances,” he said.
Dr Rowley said government has realised what the opposition is calling an “error.”
He said, “The government will go to the Parliament and we will use the majority that you gave us and we are going to make sensible amendments to the law so that the law can function in the interest of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
He gave his explanations while defending Imbert’s decision to sign orders exempting the lengthy procurement process for a period of three months relating to foreign dignitaries and the Judiciary.
Dr Rowley said, “I discover that the toilet have no paper. And we need a bale of toilet paper. It is a big ministry. And of course, it will take two months for that contract to be awarded. In the meantime, in the two months period, I presume you could bring a roll of paper from home. But that is only toilet paper. There are other things you cannot bring from home.
“The bottom line is the opposition is saying that the minister of government who got his job by swearing to an oath of office and being elected by Diego Martin North East as a country to represent you is not good enough to represent you to buy a bale of toilet paper because he is a thief and he must go through this process of two months to acquire it.”
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About the opposition, he said, “They very well know what they doing. They know that if we do not amend the law, to fix that and to put sensible arrangements in place, it will grind the government to a halt. They know that and that is what they want.”
Dr Rowley actually agrees that our Constitution process for electing a Gov’t, and Parliament is flawed. The Parliament is an extension of the Executive.
There is no three independent branches of Governance. Our twin island do not enjoy the true sense of democracy or three branches of Govt and where Gov’t should be held accountable to the Parliament.