UNC PRO: Why Ventour?
The Keith Rowley administration continues with their roll out of election year gimmicks, the latest of which is the Commission of Enquiry announced at Thursday’s Post Cabinet media briefing. The Commission has been given the mandate to look into the process of land acquisition for Point Fortin Highway project, to determine whether there is any ‘breach of duty’ or any potential criminal or civil liability by any person or entity involved in the process, showing very clearly that after years of investigation the Government is now doubling down to spend millions in a smear campaign.
It is worth noting the PNM’s choice to head this Commission of Enquiry – retired justice Sebastien Ventour. In May 2015, mere months before the General Election, Ventour, who was a member of the Integrity Commission, resigned, claiming that the Commission’s emailgate probe was incomplete and its investigation was not sufficient. He claimed the Commission came to an “inaccurate, premature conclusion before key information has come to hand”.
Emailgate, the political fiction that Dr Rowley sprouted in 2013, was the PNM’s main campaign thrust. Years later the population knows for sure that Emailgate was nothing more than a fabrication and smear campaign designed for the 2015 election. What is retired justice Ventour’s stance on Emailgate now?
This Commission of Enquiry set up by the PNM is a farce. If the report which was mentioned by Minister Stuart Young is as damning as he would like people to believe, why not take the matter to the authorities?
It is unfortunate that this Keith Rowley administration continues to put politics and cheap political stunts before people and would spend millions to put on this show, when there are serious issues that are affecting people that need to be addressed.
Trinidad and Tobago is a nation in crisis; our people are suffering. There are reports now of former Petrotrin workers committing suicide while the Government continues to ignore the ongoing hardship of those who have been callously retrenched. And instead of addressing the social crisis facing our country the PNM tells us about a Commission of Enquiry.