Manning reveals plot to assassinate him

Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Monday night an unnamed organisation is involved in a plot to assassinate him.

Speaking at a meeting in Arima Manning said the plot was revealed to his wife on the eve of last year's anniversary of the 1990 attempted coup by the Jamaat al-Muslimeen, led by Imam Abu Bakr.

“One year ago, on the morning of Saturday July 26, when the Minister of Local Government (Hazel Manning) and myself were on the way to our gym at 3.30 in the morning, a marked police vehicle sought to peel off the final vehicle in our (security) detail.

"We had one unmarked car in which we were travelling and there were two jeeps behind us, so everybody knew it was the Prime Minister’s detail,” Manning told his audience.

He said in the confusion, "all kinds of scuffles ensued, which caused us to abort our mission that morning and to return home very quickly.”

He explained that two days before that incident, "someone walked into the office of the Minister of Local Government and told her that a certain organisation in this country was about to make an attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister."

Manning said it was "fortunate" that the matter was not reported because, "I assure you, there would have been bloodshed that morning and certain people would have been killed, there is no question about it.”

He expressed confidence in his security personnel who he said have worked hard to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago remains a democratic and progressive country. "We subscribe to the ballot not the bullet,” he said.