Housing Minister Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde told reporters Thursday she does not subscribe to the what she called a "campaign of injustice and unfair attacks on UDeCOTT".And she dismissed suggestions that the state agency is a "rogue elephant".
The minister was responding to questions about UDeCOTT's decision to award a $300 million contract to Sunway to furnish the Ministry of Legal Affairs Towers while the agency was the subject of a commission of inquiry.
Gaynor Dick-Forde noted that UDeCOTT has already addressed all the issue raised, adding that in a media release UDeCOTT "clearly showed that they went through processes in awarding that contract."
The minister said, "I have no problems with it," adding that she does not believe that a line minister should "enter into matters that were tendered and a process that went through and a board would have oversighted that procedure."
She also clarified a statement attributed her on UDeCOTT's decision to take the state to court.
She was reported as saying that the agency was right to take the action. She explained that she never said that what she said was that UDeCOTT has a right to take action as a corporate citizen.
"Every citizen has a right to judicial review and as a corporate citizen...And there is no conflict between a citizen going after judicial review and the commission continuing," she said.
While the minister was standing up for UDeCOTT the chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI), was denouncing the Uff inquiry as a farce.
Victor Hart told a public forum on the commission it is ridiculous that public funds were used to pay for lawyers to represent UDeCOTT and its chairman in an effort to stop a Commission of Enquiry which was originally intended to serve the public.
He said he hopes some legislation would be put in place to limit the amount of attorneys who could be hired in the future.
Hart also said it is unforgivable that the proceedings of the commission were not published in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette as required by law. That error caused the present fiasco and the halting of the inquiry.
Hart said he is concerned that the final report on the commission will never be seen by the public. He also spoke of other inquiries.
The TTTI chief said the public has still not seen the final report of the the Commission of Enquiry into the Piarco Airport although it was completed six years ago, adding that there is a similar situation regarding the the report on the collapse of the Caroni Bailey Bridge, in which one person was killed.
Hart made no reference to another highly controversial probe, the one that looked into alleged irregularities at the Scarborough Hospital.
Attorney Robin Montano has accused Hart of bias since he had a vested interest in that investigation.
In a letter to TTTI's parent organization in Berlin, Montano asked for an investigation into the local chapter and suggested that Hart has a major interest in attacking the Uff inquiry and UDeCOTT.
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