Bas is back, budget reply first in three years

When Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday rises in the House of Representatives Friday morning to deliver his reply to the 2009-2010 Budget speech, it will be his first in Parliament in three years.

Panday had pledged to remain silent in the House, saying it is a useless exercise to speak since the government does whatever it pleases no mattter what opposition members say.

But he is speaking Friday because he believes it is time for place on record the shortcomings of the Manning administration.

It is also an opportunity to demonstrate his leadership role and present his party as a credible alternative to the government.

This is a pressing need, especially since the internal bickering in the party has damaged its public image and dropped its credibility among citizens.

Panday was out of the Parliament in 2006 and 2007 because of the two-year jail sentence imposed by former Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls for his failure to declare a London bank account to the Integrity Commission.

The Appeal Court overturned the conviction but Panday was unable to return to Parliament because his seat had been declared vacant.

When he returned to Parliament following the 2007 General Election he ended up in a fight with the Speaker over the use of his laptop computer and was suspended for the entire first session of the 9th Parliament.

The Opposition has complained that so far the government has failed to table a review of the economy, which it would have used in preparation for Friday's presentation in the House.

Vasant Bharath, the UNC's chief economic spokesman told the Trinidad Express "it is extremely distressing to know that the document is not ready."

He explained that Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira had stated very little about what Government had done, and that the population was in "complete darkness" as to how the money has been spent over the past year.

Before Panday speaks Attorney General John Jeremie will give a statement on the UdeCOTT Commission of Enquiry, possibly announcing the introduction of a Validation Act to legitimise the inquiry, which is now on hold because the authorities had failed to gazette it.