Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Monday accused Prime Minister Patrick Manning of trying to create a "holy war" in Trinidad and Tobago and of misleading the Parliament.Speaking at a political meeting in Diego Martin, Persad-Bissessar said she has no issue with with the state allocating land for building a church "nor with Mr. Manning’s freedom of worship or choice of spiritual adviser."
However, she said, "The issue is, when taxpayers money or state lands are granted to religious bodies, it must be done in a transparent manner and the Government must be held accountable."
The comments were in reference to Manning's statements in Parliament last Friday in response to a raging controversy over State lands allocated for building a church.
Manning used his 54-minute speech in the House of Representatives to outline government policy on distribution of state lands for religious use. And, among other things, he spoke about a 25-acre parcel of land given to the Shouter Baptists during the Panday administration.
He charged that the UNC government leased 25 acres of land not the overall Baptist body, but to "an arm of it; one of the archdioceses".
He said, "It turns out that the person who headed that particular archdiocese, was a Senator in the government at the time, appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister," Manning said in Parliament.
"So it was not a question of dealing with the Baptist Church or the Baptist faith, but it was a question of dealing with an individual with whom they had a close association. That is how they conducted their business.
“Instead of seeking to pursue the equitable approach...25 acres of land was given to an arm of the Baptist faith, headed by somebody who was a Senator in the government at the time...In other words, there was no equity in the matter at all. That is how they did it.”
Persad-Bissessar challenged that, saying Manning "misled the Parliament when he said that the UNC gave land to one Baptist group." She noted that that the facts prove it.
The UNC leader produced official documents to show that Manning was distorting the facts. The 30-year lease from the Orange Grove Estates was registered on March 29, 2000 to The Committee for the Council of Elders of Spiritual Baptists Shouters Faith of T&T, a company incorporated under Companies Act, she stated.
She explained further that the lease was executed by Barbara Gray-Burke, the senator to whom Manning referred, Dorothy Hercules and Lennard Neverson on behalf of the legally registered body known as the National Congress of Incorporated Baptists Organizations of T&T.
The organization, she explained, comprised a group of Baptist churches which came together and was incorporated under Act of Parliament No 27 of 1985.
Persad-Bissessar said since Manning's irresponsible statement several church leaders have come out to speak about what they did or did not receive.
She suggested that the prime minister's motives were to "create friction, to incite a holy war among our religious groups that work so well in our religiously tolerant society."
She said making comparisons to what other religious groups received from the state is not the point.
"Those were open, transparent matters but the Church at Guanapo Heights is shrouded in secrecy, dubious political connections and flagrant violations of procedures. That is the difference," she said.
And she dismissed his talk of religious persecution, reminding her audience that it was a UNC government that enacted the Orisha Marriage Act, which allows Orisha priests to legally conduct a marriage.
"I was Minister of Legal Affairs at the time and ensured this was carried out during my term in office. It was the UNC that declared Shouter Baptist Day a national holiday and contrary to Manning’s statements in Parliament," she said
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