OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be sending Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley a letter asking that the President be advised to establish a Commission of Inquiry for the purposes of examining the management and the expenditures for Covid-19.
In Parliament, the Opposition Members of Parliament have repeatedly called for inquires into funds used for Covid-19 and sometimes their questions were not allowed by House Speaker Brigid Annisette-George.
On Tuesday, in a public statement, Persad-Bissessar called on Dr Rowley to advise President Paula-Mae Weekes of the Commission of Inquiry under the Commissions of Inquiry Act Chapter 19.01.
She stated, “And to make such findings, observations and recommendations arising out of its deliberations as the commission may deem appropriate and for the purpose to issue a commission pursuant to the Act with the following terms of reference.
“To inquire into the basis and advice which informed the Government in instituting each measure under the Public Health Ordinance. The basis and advice which informed the government in instituting a state of emergency in May 2021 and any regulations made thereunder. The methods collecting Covid-19 related health data and their policy behind its dissemination to the public.”
Persad-Bissessar said she did not believe that the population was being told the entire truth even in the producing of graphs to show Covid-19 data hence one of the reasons for the Commission of Inquiry.
She said the public needed to know methods were being used in collecting Covid health data and the policy in dissemination of that said data, the method in obtaining scientific advice and to what extent was such advice followed in making decisions by the Government, the priorities and Government decisions and the method used to manage competing priorities and all advice which the government received to curtail the movement and congregation of persons and any warnings of risks at any time of an increased number of infections.
Persad-Bissessar told Dr Rowley that he will not be alone in advising the President of such as the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson bowed to the public’s call for a full inquiry of his government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Although he did not promise a statutory inquiry which is what we are seeking. He set a loose time frame within the current timeframe of the Parliament,” she added.
Persad-Bissessar said, “As stated on the website of the office of the Prime Minister it says “a Commission of Inquiry is appointed to investigate a matter of national importance and concern. There can be no doubt that the handling of the Covid pandemic, its expenditures, the curtailments of rights and freedoms and all other actions taken, are matters of major national importance and concern.”
