They Were Investigating? An Honest Man And His Hart?

Submitted by Taran Rampersad on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 09:12

The revelation in Trinidad and Tobago Newspapers that Calder Hart had was part of a criminal investigation as of September, 2009, casts some question as to whether the man holding the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, is indeed an honest man as his pastor alleges.

Why would I write that? There's a problem with the data. Both articles referencing the investigation (linked above) say that the Prime Minister was aware of the investigation that started in September of 2009. Yet in Patrick Manning's 45 documented defenses of Calder Hart, he defended Calder Hart after the investigation was underway:

Then, in Parliament on October 21, 2009, Manning defended Hart, casting him as a public official caught up in a battle between the Prime Minister and his detractors during debate on a bill to validate the proceedings of the Uff Commission of Inquiry.
Hitting out at what he called the “tyranny of the lynch mob” he said, “They want to get Calder Hart but let me tell you it is not Calder Hart. It is not Udecott. It is the Prime Minister and the Government that is what they are after!” While the ex-husband of Hart’s wife Sherrine, Carl Khan, had come forward five months earlier to corroborate Maharaj’s allegations, Manning said of those who took Khan’s allegations seriously, “They are not interested in the truth, they prefer to rely on the evidence of a jilted lover.”

This year, on January 7 in Parliament, the Prime Minister said Hart was of the calibre to be appointed to the Integrity Commission. “Don’t rule it out! Don’t rule it out!” he said in cross-talk with MPs.

At the opening of the National Academy for the Performing Arts in November last year, Manning hailed the Udecott chairman and noted, “Many can talk but few can build,” Manning said. “As the Bible says, by their deeds they shall be known.” He called the academy “a masterpiece owned by the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”

For the calendar impaired, October and all dates mentioned in that excerpt of the Newsday article happened... after September. Why would a man occupying the Office of Prime Minister, with full knowledge that Calder Hart was being investigated, be defend him so frequently? One could understand ambivalence with respect to someone being investigated, but defense? Certainly, it could be Patrick Manning defending political decisions or his own future in politics in the hope that the light at the end of the tunnel wouldn't be from the torches of the angry mob.

Maybe Patrick Manning is honest, as his pastor states. Maybe he's simply incompetent. Either way, his future of holding the Office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has been drawn into question with no good answer. Either 'honest and incompetent' or 'dishonest' aren't very good options to have in a Prime Minister.

And for those who talk about the UNC in all of this, remember that the Congress of the People (COP) were the ones who dug up the alleged (awaiting verification) family connections in Calder Hart's dealings. Don't forget that.

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