CL bill pulled; Gov't won't deny citizens the right to go to court on CL matter

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar explained to the House of Representatives Friday whey her government decided withdraw a bill to block legal action against Clico.

“We made the choice that we will not proceed with that bill because we were not of the view that we should use our special majority in the Parliament to deprive citizens of their right of access to the courts," she said.

“It was laid in the Parliament on Tuesday, I believe...(with) the understanding that further amendments would be made and finalised at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

“At Thursday’s Cabinet with more information that came to us, we decided we would explore other options. So we did not want to use our majority.

“For the first time we would have been using such a majority simply to deprive citizens of right of access to the courts. That is why we did not proceed. Members felt very strongly about it.”

Persad-Bissessar reminded the House that during the budget debate she promised that "we must first listen and then lead. So we want to give Clico stakeholders an opportunity to voice their concerns.”

She said an interministerial sub-committee headed by Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath will hold discussions with various stakeholders “to listen to the people.”

And she dismissed rumours of dissent in Cabinet over the aborted bill. “Nothing is further from the truth. There is no “"bacchanal” in the Cabinet. It was a unanimous decision in the Cabinet...we are all one family. Do not live with bated breath and with great expectations because it is not going to happen. We will hold together.”