PADARATH: Gov’t Aborted PAAC Meeting Into Blackout, What are They Hiding?
Opposition Shadow Minister of Public Utilities, MP Barry Padarath is expressing shock and outrage at a press release put out by the Parliament yesterday evening saying that the Public Administration and Appropriation Committee meeting into the recent blackout and power outage was postponed. Padarath said a serious matter like the blackout that left citizens at the mercy of criminal elements for over twelve hours and without essential utilities doesn’t appear to be a priority of the Government with respect to finding out the details surrounding the outage.
The Princes Town MP stated that one week has elapsed since the twelve hours’ power outage and the government is using its majority to stymie the work of the Committee into this very serious matter.
The MP added that the role of the Public Administration and Appropriation Committee of the Parliament is to address matters like what occurred at T&TEC last week Wednesday that left the country in hysteria, uncertainty and fear for over twelve long hours. The Committee was supposed to meet yesterday in a public hearing with officials at T&TEC as well as other stakeholders to get answers, reasons and recommendations on the way forward with respect to the blackout.
Instead, the MP said he was caught by complete surprise that the Parliament had put out a release saying that the meeting was aborted by majority decision.
Padarath questioned who were the members who took the decision to abort the meeting? He further asked what were the reasons for aborting the meeting and what was the government hiding that they did not want officials and stakeholders involved in last week’s blackout to say? Further, the MP asked why there was no fixed date for the next meeting of the PAAC into this matter?
It is clear for all to see that the government is engaged in a cover up with respect to the real reasons for the blackout, Padarath added.
The Princes Town MP reminded the government that under the constitution, the Parliament was separate from the executive and Parliamentary committees weren’t political tools of the executive but instead were avenues for matters to be addressed and investigated.
The Opposition Shadow Minister for Public Utilities said that this move to abort the inquiry into the blackout by the Government members in the PAAC undermines the work of the Parliament and the public interest in this matter, for political reasons.
Padarath further stated that the collapse of yesterday’s PAAC meeting caused by the Government’s majority was a clear indication that the government did not have the political will or intention to share with the population the real reasons for the twelve-hour blackout.