Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne, continued his marathon session for another four hours yesterday morning with fresh attacks on the Government over what he deemed its mishandling of a number of matters.
Rearing and ready to go again just after 9 a.m., Thorne lashed out at Government over the still-to-be-built national stadium, the non-sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, the long-awaited new Constitution, the squandering of money on the HOPE housing project and the questioning of the Commissioner of Police (COP) at the Estimates debate, among other issues.
Thorne, a senior attorney told the House of Assembly that the COP was only answerable to the Head of State.
“I want to say to you, that when the Commissioner of Police was dragged into this place as part of the Attorney General’s delegation on the first day of the Estimates, somebody ought to have known better, that there is no place in here during an Estimates debate for the Commissioner of Police. And Your Honour, it was painful to watch the Commissioner of Police being confronted by one of the Honourable Members . . . with some hint of hostility, directed towards the Commissioner of Police.
“I believe it is Section 8 of the Police Act, which says that the Commissioner of Police has superintendence of the Police Service and that the Commissioner of Police is answerable only to the Head of State,” Thorne said.
“He should not have been here . . . he should not have been subjected to questions . . . ; It was an awkward and embarrassing moment and whoever brought that gentleman here, should have known better. To expose the Commissioner of Police to answering to a Parliament, it is wrong. You can’t bring a Commissioner of Police in here and confront him about police matters. You cannot do that,” Thorne said.
In terms of the new constitution for Barbados’ Republic State Thorne questioned when it would become a reality as he said the country was in no man’s land.
“Monies were voted in the Estimates previously to establish a Constitutional Review Commission. Yet this Attorney General resists any question that seeks to have him disclose not only the previous allocation of those funds, but the enterprise to which those funds were to be committed.”
Pointing out that “A Constitution is nothing more than fundamental laws and it regulates the relationship between the state and the citizen, Thorne said: “The people of this country are entitled to know when the new Constitution would be coming . . . . This public was led to believe that preparations were being made to fix what we call a lacuna.
Constitutional deficit
“I’m going to emphasise it now that there is a constitutional deficit in this country. And it is not so much that the constitutional deficit is wrong, but that the powers exercised by the Prime Minister and members of a Cabinet may come beyond the control of the existing Constitution. As I’ve said before, the powers exercised by public officials in a Republic are different from those exercised within a monarchy. In other words, Your Honour, constitutionally, this country is in no man’s
land, and we are exposed to excessive political power.”
Continuing his criticism of the HOPE housing project, Thorne asserted that HOPE was a government established company promoting Government’s work “under the guise of a private entity.”
He questioned the $60 million which was “transferred to Hope” and charged that several contractors were fired when it was realised “that they had no idea of the difference between a house and a chicken coop.”
Thorne further expressed his disgust with Government taking National Hero, Sir Garfield Sobers to Vespera Gardens to open a street in his name as he said “If this Government was a wise government, Beckles Road would have been named after that great man.”
In terms of the recent announcement that the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was going digital, Thorne accused Government of terminating the organisation which he called an important cultural asset.
Thorne also revealed that Government had hired a consultant in one area and then given him a private contract where he was being paid $1.7 million.
“And when the Government took up $1.7 million dollars and paid to a consultant who was already a hired by the government. . . He was benefiting. He was double benefiting at the expense of the public purse and this work, this double benefit was occurring within the Ministry of the Attorney General,” he revealed.
The issue of missing black belly sheep was also dealt with extensively by the Leader of the Opposition.
He recalled that 900 black-bellied sheep were sent to Guyana “paid for with public funds” as he said a member from the Guyana Parliament came here and said she had never seen the sheep.
“I know Guyana is a large country but somebody must have seen them and last year we were told that a certain gentleman, another high-paid consultant was sent to Guyana to count the sheep. Now there must be a lot of sheep because he hasn’t come back with his calculation and this honourable minister of agriculture has been unable to tell the people of this country what that project is about.”
In terms of the controversial peace programme and the persons involved in it, Thorne said people were uncomfortable “because those relationships are not clearly defined for the sake of people’s psychological comfort.”
He stressed: “The Government must now be called upon to resolve issues of that relationship,” as he called on Government to remove itself, to extricate itself from relationships in which the state is now in negotiation with those elements. (MB)
