Former Minister of National Security Martin Joseph claims he knew nothing about which citizens were being spied upon.
Current Opposition Leader and former cabinet member Keith Rowley, also a target of the espionage, was initially furious at the revelations, and he, too, claimed that he had no knowledge of this ongoing outrage. He even condemned the alleged spying.
But then he had a “recollection”, or possibly an instruction, but from whom? He blasted the current Prime Minister, who had also claimed she had no knowledge of the spy list.
Keith claimed that Kamla would have known about the SIA “all along”, because she was Prime Minister and had chaired the NSC. But he made no such claim for Manning or Martin Joseph.
So, on reflection Keith knew? But he appears to have accepted that Manning and Martin were still claiming to be clueless? Subsequently we were told that Manning was the recipient of the reports and knew who was being monitored. So, did Manning lie?
And current Minister of National Security John Sandy also claims that he knew nothing about this spy list. He states that he has held several meetings with recently dismissed head of the SIA, Nigel Clement, but claims he was never told by Clement just whom the SIA was eavesdropping upon. John Sandy is the line minister to whom Clement should have been reporting.
And we have this silence from former AGs John Jeremie and Bridgid Annisette-George, both who sat on the National Security Committee with Manning and Martin. No one has even questioned them. Might this have been the reason Annisette-George quit, or was asked to go?
So, to whom was the Head of government’s espionage service, Nigel Clement, reporting? Juliana Pena? And more importantly, to whom had he been reporting between May 24th and October 23rd? And under whose instructions?
This may be reading like Raymond Choo Kong farce, but it is a very serious situation. On the face of it the Security Intelligence Agency has been spying upon the President, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General, judges and other government ministers and many private citizens, and reporting to a member of the opposition, who is using the information to attack the government!
The answers to several of these questions: Who ordered the spying? Who received the reports? Why the head of the SIA would decide to spy on government, and report to the opposition?—will all become clearer over the next few days, maybe even by the time you read this.
If I was President Maxwell Richards, I would have already summoned Patrick Manning to my office, and demanded an explanation from him as to how he could dare to spy, or condone spying on the President of the country.
Let me say that I believe that Kamla Persad-Bissessar knew of the existence of the SIA, and knew that it conducted eavesdropping exercises over the past several years.
However, that does not necessarily mean that she was aware of the extent of the operations, or the names which were recently announced.
She could only have known that had she been told by SIA, and apparently SIA was spying for someone other than the current government of T&T. Again, the word ringing in my head is Treason.
But things were really worse than they seemed. When Speaker Wade Mark prevented Patrick Manning, who sought to find his voice for the second time in this Parliament, from “explaining”, Manning summoned the media.
He stated, without an iota of proof, (and I challenge him to show this in any of the tapes Juliana might have shared with him) that the PP government were shutting down the SIA in order to let drugs flow into the country, as a “payback” to drug cartels which had funded their election campaign.
Now it is a fact that the UNC government (1995-2000) had at least used SIA information to arrest and hang the Chadee gang, and to follow a shipment of cocaine to England, leading to the arrest and conviction of a major player over there.
But after nine years, with all of the super paraphernalia he purchased, in spite of personally knowing “Mr. Big” who was allegedly responsible for the ongoing crime wave, Manning, Martin and the Attorney Generals of the time could make no significant arrests, secure no convictions, and saw murders and kidnappings soar in our country.
If that was the SIA’s performance, better we disband it for true!
I accept the need for an SIA, but under controls now being presented. I have raised the questions, stay tuned for the answers.
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