Gov't of TT fails to answer questions on Arima church

Questions about the construction of a huge multi-million-dollar church in Arima continued to emerge Thursday as reporters tried to get answers from Energy Minister Conrad Enill at the weekly post-cabinet meeting.

But the media didn't get many answers.

Reporters wanted Enill to answer several questions, including one about why cabinet granted state lands to the church in 2006, long after the cornerstone of the church in the Heights of Guanapo was laid on December 30, 2005.

"That is outside of the remit of the Cabinet," was his answer. "Cabinet is not normally interested in cornerstones and those kinds of activities. The matter that would have come to Cabinet would have been a normal matter - the grant of a lease. That would have been the only consideration," the minister explained.

The issue of the "mystery church" has become a political hot potato ever since Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner raised questions about it in Parliament.

Reports have connected the church to Juliana Pena, a spiritual adviser to Prime Minister Patrick Manning. The office of the PM has distanced itself from the church, saying Manning does not own it.

However the official statement confirmed that the church "is indeed being constructed on State lands, having obtained the requisite approval from the Cabinet since 2006."

Reporters asked Enill which church or institution applied for the land in Arima and to whom the lease was granted. He did not have an answer, but explained when "the appropriate officers" make recommendations based on an established process cabinet usually accepts the recommendations.

He explained that cabinet approves state lands for various projects "on an ongoing basis" noting that on Thursday "we did about five to eight" approvals for the leasing of State Lands.

Enill suggested that cabinet would have been out of line if it had approved an application that did not follow the established process.

"The thing is clearly set out in the law as to how government leases are to be dealt with and it has to be followed. If not, the Cabinet is going to be in breach of its responsibilities," he said.

Enill also did not have answers about the builders, Shanghai Construction Ltd., which was engaged by Trinidad and Tobago under a government to government arrangement.

He said he did not know such arrangements prohibited foreign companies from undertaking private projects and could not say if Shanghai Construction is involved in any other private sector projects in the country.

"It is not a matter which would engage my attention because it is not a Cabinet matter," he said.