Rowley says government can save UFF probe

The Uff enquiry into the construction sector and UDeCOTT comes to an indefinite halt Monday when commission chairman John Uff announces at a news conference that hearings will be suspended indefinitely.

It's because of a legal technically of not gazetting the probe as required by law.

But Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley believes that the government can prevent this and is urging the Manning administration to act swiftly to prevent the hearings from being put on hold.

Rowley said all that is needed is for the government to table a Validation Bill in Parliament, seeking to legalise the work of the commission. That would give the commission retroactive validity.

Rowley called the failure of the government to publish the commission in the Gazette "shocking and very serious, but not fatal." He said he is confident that the government would act responsibly and "take the necessary action to ensure that the matter was remedied quickly."

Rowley noted that millions have already been spent on the inquiry and the work should not go in vain.

"The matter should be brought to the Parliament tomorrow (Monday) and debated for a couple of hours after the 2010 budget presentation by the Finance Minister and passed and taken to the Senate as early as possible and also passed, so the work of the commission can continue,” he told the Trinidad and Tobago media.

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday has suggested that the failure to publish the inquiry in the Gazette might have been a deliberate act on the part of the Government, which never wanted to hold the inquiry in the first place.

"When they were forced to set up the inquiry, I said nothing will come out of it and it seems as though I am going to be right," Panday told the Trinidad Guardian.

He said if a validation bill is brought before government he would have to wait and see what it contains before deciding if to support it.

The Congress of the People (COP) said on Sunday the indefinite postponement of the UFF Commission of Inquiry "a deliberate and calculated plot" to prematurely abort the probe. COP leader Winston Dookeran said it is tantamount to fraud committed against the people of Trinidad and Tobago. (see next story below)