By Sue-Ann Wayow
AN independent enquiry must be conducted into the awarding of the contract for a national CCTV (closed-circuit television) network in Trinidad and Tobago to international telecommunications provider Digicel.
This is the call from Opposition Member of Parliament Dr Roodal Moonilal.
Dr Moonilal speaking at the Opposition’s media briefing on Thursday referred to an Express report that stated that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the contract was stopped and an evaluation and its outcome was now under the remit of the Office of the Attorney General.
The MP for Oropouche East said that Attorney General Reginald Armour was still a Cabinet colleague and any investigations must be done independently of Government interference.
Speaking about past issues regarding the awarding of contracts which would have also included Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) which is 51% owned by the state, Dr Moonilal is questioning why would the Irish based company be favoured for the contract that now raises more red flags.
He said, “Digicel is awarded this contract in a deal we believe much more, in fact extremely more costly, expensive than that provided from TSTT which is partly owned by the State and no less than the Prime Minister is saying now that the Attorney General Reginal Armour must investigate it, how Digicel get a contract when their bid was significantly higher than TSTT.”
Dr Moonilal said the Prime Minister needed to make enquires from former National Security Minister Stuart Young and not Armour who was recently appointed as Attorney General.
“When he (Young) was minister, they stopped the contract,” he said.
Dr Moonilal said, “We need to get an independent enquiry into the debacle of the tendering and contract arrangements for the CCTV cameras by the Ministry of National Security from September 2018 to this day in April, 2022 and thereafter.”
He continued, “Nothing less than an independent enquiry will suffice.”
Dr Moonilal added, “And don’t go and pick somebody on the streets because you know them years now and put them to enquire and so on. This has to be a proper enquiry by independent persons with background in telecommunications with background in law for example that can look at this outside of the Cabinet.”
Speaking about Armour Dr Moonilal said he remains a politician in the Cabinet whether he conducts himself as such.
“He cannot conduct any investigation into this matter,” he said as the National Security Ministry was accountable for the CCTV cameras.
