Tuesday, May 13 2008

FIRED Government minister Dr Keith Rowley’s final legislative act as a government minister could be played out in the Senate today at 1.30 pm, when a motion filed in his name for the acquisition of lands in Port-of-Spain and Carenage for the construction of a car park and a health centre respectively, is debated.

The motion was filed and passed in the House of Representatives on April 4 and is listed for debate at today’s Senate sitting.

Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert was the only speaker on that motion on April 4 which must be approved by both Houses of Parliament.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning fired Rowley from the Cabinet on April 23. Manning said Rowley was fired because of his conduct at an April 14 Finance and General Purpose Cabinet subcommittee meeting at Whitehall.

Rowley countered that he was fired because he raised concerns about a “lack of Cabinet oversight” into the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago’s (Udecott) operations.

Rowley’s motion calls for the acquisition of 791.8 square metres of land in the vicinity of St Paul Street in Port-of-Spain for the construction of parking facilities for the St Paul Street Community Centre. The motion also calls for the acquisition of 764.1 square metres of land in Carenage, which falls within Rowley’s Diego Martin West constituency, for the construction of a community health centre.

Also in the Senate, debate continues today on the Immigration (Advance Passenger Information) Bill 2008.

Among the questions for oral answer which Government will field today are questions about acquiring crowd control equipment for the police and the awarding of scholarships to Imbert and Culture Minister Marlene McDonald.