TRINIDAD HIT BY ETHNIC CLEANSING EPIDEMIC: 'being an Indian was part of the problem'; BIAS AGAINST INDIANS; Khan: I am a victim of discrimination; WARNER, IMBERT, MANNING SHOOT ETHNIC CLEANSING MESSENGER; Gopeesingh lists 13 doctors in ‘ethnic cleansing’; PUBLIC SERVANTS WIN IN APPEAL COURT, MANNING LOSES;
------------------------------------
PSC promotion judgment
Court rulings seen as signal against a trend
Shaliza Hassanali
Published: 19 Jul 2009
Acting Transport Commissioner, Pundit Haridath Maharaj, who won a historic victory over the Public Service Commission (PSC), feels that the judgments handed down sends a clear signal that Indian public servants are not wanted in the higher levels of the public service.
Maharaj was one of three people of East Indian descent, during the past week, who scored a historic victory over the PSC for failing to consider him for promotion to the office in which he had been acting for three years. Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee ruled on Friday that the commission erred when it ignored Maharaj’s claim to promotion and instead promoted his junior, Ruben Cato.
Rajnauth-Lee granted a declaration that the decision not to interview Maharaj for promotion to Transport Commissioner was unfair and irrational.
Maharaj’s judgment was the third in the past two weeks in which the court ruled that people had been unfairly treated by the PSC. Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Ganga Persad Kissoon, who was bypassed for promotion for the post of Commissioner of State Lands, which Prime Minister Patrick Manning vetoed and blocked.
The Court of Appeal also ruled in favour of Feroza Ramjohn, whose recommendation to serve in the London High Commission was also vetoed by Manning. The three defendants were represented by attorney Anand Ramlogan.
“This trend is a very disturbing and dangerous one, which sends a clear signal that Indian public servants are not wanted in the higher levels of the public service. “There is a glass ceiling beyond which they are unable to rise,” said Maharaj—a public servant for 40 years.
Maharaj said he was victimised on the job for two-and-a-half years, for walking a straight line. “I felt that being an Indian was part of the problem…I am not against the person who was promoted; is just that I was angry with the system.” Because of mounting pressures, Maharaj said he felt like throwing in the towel. “This judgment can’t undo what I went through. I have to live with this for the rest of my life.”
Ramjohn said that for the five years the matter dragged on in court, her colleagues never had anything good to say: “Even after the judgment was handed down, only few of my colleagues congratulated me.” Ramjohn said she was trying to move on with her life, because the incident brought her no end of worry and stress. Kissoon said he was satisfied with the judgment, which should serve well for other public servants being overlooked for promotions. “No sitting Prime Minister should be allowed to manipulate the career of a public servant into high office,” Kissoon said.
Ramlogan: It’s an evil
Attorney Ramlogan said discrimination was a multifaceted evil that could occur for a variety of reasons: “The glaring racial imbalance in the upper echelons of the public service statistically supports and fuels this perception.”
Ramlogan said the system for acting appointments was also abused by putting someone to warm the seat without confirming them, while the favoured person was given time to qualify for the promotion. “The commission is supposed to be independent, but operates in a vacuum or ivory tower, as though it is unaware of the plight of those who complain about discrimination and unfair treatment. “It has done nothing to alter the racial composition of the interview panel,” said Ramlogan
What the people say
Former head of the Public Service, Reginald Dumas, hesitated to attribute race as the main reason for the objection to promote anyone. “What I found important in the court’s ruling is that you should not just veto people without reason. What the court is trying to say is that there has to be an emphasis on natural justice.” Vice-president of the Public Services Association Stephen Thomas, when contacted, said he had to peruse the judgment before commenting. However, Thomas said the commission “had made this blunder several times.”
http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/07/19/court-rulings-seen-signal-against-trend
BIAS AGAINST INDIANS
Dr Tim stands firm on 'ethnic cleansing' charge at hospital
Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Sunday, July 19th 2009
'QUALIFIED DOCTORS LEAVING': Dr Tim Gopeesingh
Opposition MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh yesterday charged that Government was carrying out a policy of political discrimination that was targeting one particular ethnic grouping in T&T.
"I don't think the Prime Minister is a racist at all but he is practising inequality and massive discrimination," Gopeesingh said yesterday at a news conference at his St Clair office.
Gopeesingh said he has known Manning for the past 30 years and had gone to university with him and believed the Prime Minister's "best friends are East Indians".
But he said, "What you practice as a political leader and a Prime Minister may be not the way you behave personally as an individual."
Gopeesingh also said he was not going to apologise for the comments he made in Parliament on Friday about there being "ethnic cleansing", and that most of the Indian doctors have had to leave the Port of Spain General Hospital.
"I felt compelled to bring it in the debate in Parliament rather than hiding it because I would have been doing an injustice to the society, particularly when people's lives are at stake and when I see lives are being lost because of negligence and people being operated on by junior doctors who never should be practising in Trinidad and Tobago," Gopeesingh said.
He said those junior doctors were being given licences to practise by what he called the Government's forming of a parallel medical board, as opposed to the constitutionally appointed Medical Board.
The Government has maintained that all foreign doctors being allowed to practise in T&T are properly licensed and qualified to do their jobs.
Gopeesingh said highly qualified doctors of Indian descent from this country were being turned away from key jobs in the public health sector or were leaving out of frustration.
"This Government is guilty, and guilty of massive discrimination in the health sector," Gopeesingh said.
Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Wade Mark, who joined Gopeesingh at yesterday's news conference, accused the Manning administration of "pursuing a practice of selective discrimination particularly as it relates to employment in the Public Service".
On Friday evening, as he responded to Gopeesingh's comments on ethnic cleansing, Manning said the Parliament was not the place for "that kind of talk" even if the Opposition MP had the evidence to prove his claim. He called for Gopeesingh to withdraw the remarks.
Gopeesingh said, "There is massive discrimination and inequality in the award of scholarships, in the award of housing, in the hiring practices throughout the country and it must be spoken about. We cannot sweep it under the carpet because to sweep it under the carpet would be doing a massive disservice to the national community and it must be brought (out) and Parliament is the place that it has to be discussed.
"We cannot discuss this outside. We are elected by the people and the people expect us to discuss this."
He provided a list of names of 14 senior doctors of Indian descent who he claimed have been forced to take VSEP, did not have their contracts renewed or who have been frustrated out of the public health system from 2008 to present.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161506348
Public servants win in Appeal Court
Double blow for PM
Francis Joseph
Published: 10 Jul 2009
It was a double blow for Prime Minister Patrick Manning in the Court of Appeal yesterday as he lost two judicial review cases in which he had vetoed the appointments of two senior public servants to high-ranking positions in the Public Service.
Manning was also under pressure in the Senate yesterday as he tried to convince senators to support the bill for postponing local government elections for another 12 months. In one court case, Feroza Ramjohn was deemed a national security risk and her transfer to the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London was rescinded. In the other case, Ganga Persad Kissoon was the number one choice to become Commissioner of State Lands, but he was bypassed for promotion.
Former Justice David Myers dismissed Kissoon’s judicial review case, but yesterday, the Court of Appeal, comprising Chief Justice Ivor Archie, Justice Margot Warner and Justice Allan Mendonca, ruled for the public servant against the PM and the Public Service Commission (PSC). In both cases, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, SC, and Anand Ramlogan appeared for the public servants, while Russell Martineau, SC, represented the State.
In Ramjohn’s case, Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy ruled for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accountant, but the State appealed. Yesterday, the court of appeal, by a 2-1 majority, dismissed the State’s appeal but ordered that no damages be awarded to Ramjohn. Warner and Mendonca ruled for Ramjohn, while Justice Wendell Kangaloo dissented. The court granted a declaration to Ramjohn that she was treated unfairly, by the failure of the Prime Minister to inform her of the case against her, and to give her an opportunity to make representations.
Ramjohn, 58, has been a public servant for the past 38 years. During her career, she served two overseas missions—as officer in charge of the registry in the Consulate in New York, and as accounts officer in the permanent mission to the United Nations, also in New York. On May 11, 1999, two diplomatic pouches which were despatched from Port-of-Spain to New York went missing on BW 424. It was later discovered that one of the pouches was found in a container with fish. The second pouch contained 200 blank T&T passports.
On June 5, 2001, one of two pouches with T&T passports went missing. An intelligence report, bearing dates June 23 and 25, 2001, stated that an official of the permanent mission in New York gave information “which tends to show that Ms Feroza Ramjohn, of the Registry, Foreign Affairs office in Trinidad, may be involved in a major conspiracy to steal a diplomatic pouch containing 200 blank T&T passports.”
Ramjohn denied that she was part of any conspiracy to steal blank T&T passports. She said she had left NY consultate ten years before and had no allies there. No charge or disciplinary action was taken against anyone. After accountant Bissoon Boodhai was charged with others for conspiracy to traffic cocaine in diplomatic pouches, Ramjohn was informed that she was going to the London mission as accountant. She received a letter and instrument of appointment about her transfer, which was signed by the Prime Minister.
But a month later, Ramjohn was handed a letter rescinding her transfer to London. She was considered a national security risk, and her appointment was vetoed by the PM. She was not given an opportunity to be heard, or to make representations. She was not sent to London, and someone else, her junior, was allowed to go to the T&T High Commission. Warner, in her eight-page judgment, said Ramjohn had no right to be transferred to the High Commission in London. But Warner found that Ramjohn was treated unfairly by the failure of the PM to inform her of the case against her, and to give her an opportunity to make representations.
Ramjohn, 58, has been a public servant for the past 38 years. During her career, she served two overseas missions—as officer in charge of the registry in the Consulate in New York, and as accounts officer in the permanent mission to the United Nations, also in New York. On May 11, 1999, two diplomatic pouches which were despatched from Port-of-Spain to New York went missing on BW 424. It was later discovered that one of the pouches was found in a container with fish. The second pouch contained 200 blank T&T passports.
On June 5, 2001, one of two pouches with T&T passports went missing. An intelligence report, bearing dates June 23 and 25, 2001, stated that an official of the permanent mission in New York gave information “which tends to show that Ms Feroza Ramjohn, of the Registry, Foreign Affairs office in Trinidad, may be involved in a major conspiracy to steal a diplomatic pouch containing 200 blank T&T passports.” Ramjohn denied that she was part of any conspiracy to steal blank T&T passports. She said she had left NY consultate ten years before and had no allies there. No charge or disciplinary action was taken against anyone.
After accountant Bissoon Boodhai was charged with others for conspiracy to traffic cocaine in diplomatic pouches, Ramjohn was informed that she was going to the London mission as accountant. She received a letter and instrument of appointment about her transfer, which was signed by the Prime Minister.
But a month later, Ramjohn was handed a letter rescinding her transfer to London. She was considered a national security risk, and her appointment was vetoed by the PM. She was not given an opportunity to be heard, or to make representations. She was not sent to London, and someone else, her junior, was allowed to go to the T&T High Commission.
Warner, in her eight-page judgment, said Ramjohn had no right to be transferred to the High Commission in London. But Warner found that Ramjohn was treated unfairly by the failure of the PM to inform her of the case against her and to give her an opportunity to make representations. In the case of Kissoon, a public servant for 36 years, he was recommended by the Service Commissions Department for promotion to the post of Commissioner of State Lands.
But Manning, by letter dated November 10, 2004, informed the PSC that he did not support Kissoon’s proposed promotion. Another name was proposed and it was accepted. Kissoon, 58, then filed for judicial review, seeking among other things, that the constitutional veto vested in the PM, was unfairly and illegally exercised for an improper purpose.
RESPONSES
FEROZA RAMJOHN:
Ramjohn said she was elated at the court victory, but was sad that her father was not around to see the final result. She said he died last year, although he was not optimistic that she could succeed over the PM. She said although she still had two years to go before retirement, she was still looking forward to the London appointment. “It has been a very stressful time for me,” Ramjohn added. She still works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Sunjet House, Port-of-Spain.
GANGA PERSAD KISSOON:
“This victory is not for me, but for the younger ones coming up,” Kissoon said. “I have lost eight years because of this matter, and I have only two years to go. Although it means little for me, I am happy that I was able to succeed, although I was not that optimistic.”
Messenger under heavy fire
Peter Balroop
Published: 19 Jul 2009
Peter Balroop
UNC-A Chaguanas West MP, Jack Warner, felt funny to be within earshot when his colleague, Caroni East MP, Dr Tim Gopeesingh, let the cat out of the bag that you needed a microscope to find a doctor who looked like he had East Indian roots at Port-of-Spain General Hospital. The PNM had put on Hitlerite clothes and conducted ethnic cleansing at the venerable health institution, Gopeesingh declared during Friday’s sitting of the Lower House.
He swore that now you could find only doctors of African descent pacing the wards there. It was uncomfortable stuff, Gopeesingh putting into words the images that have from 1845 lurked here just under the surface in Trinidad and Tobago, when the first East Indians came as indentured labourers, meeting freed African slaves and their descendants, You have to be a fortunate citizen of this country—lucky to a fault—to be without the sin of nurturing racism in your heart and soul. Now, Gopeesingh’s comments about ethnic cleansing at the Port-of-Spain institution came in the context of him listing a litany of woes in the health sector that were begging for attention, a sort of in-passing comment.
But his critics, in particular Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert, latched on to the remark like leeches. They pinned Gopeesingh to the cross, and declined to allow him to elaborate, during their contributions, on why he had made the observation that left them seething. The action took place during debate on legislation to establish an ambulance authority in T&T, in a bill piloted by Health Minister Jerry Narace. The bill was passed 26-7 late on Friday night in its own wave of controversy, with Warner and his fellow UNC-A dissident colleague, Mayaro MP, Winston “Gypsy” Peters, voting with the ruling PNM.
Swelling rapidly
Gopeesingh had made the point that the T&T population was swelling rapidly, there being 18,000 births annually, compared with 12,000 deaths, coupled with Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s open invitation to the OECS that they were welcome to flock to the land of milk and honey to take up residence, and voting rights.
Nevertheless, while the country was filthy rich, people had to wait in many cases for two days before they could be warded on a hospital bed. Patients with fractures must lie on their backs for months, before the requisite screws, plates or pins were available to mend their limbs, Gopeesingh accused. As for burn victims, crapaud smoke their pipe, Gopeesingh lamented, just before he observed that 150-plus senior doctors of East Indian descent had been forced out of the public health service during recent times, in what he could only conclude was ethnic cleansing.
Even Speaker Barendra Sinanan was not happy with Gopeesingh publicly going where few Trinis would dare to tread, counselling the Caroni East MP to return his focus to the bill. But the damage had already been done, with Manning himself taking the floor to chastise Gopeesingh for bringing race talk into the debate. Imbert was even more abrasive, questioning Gopeesingh’s academic as well as medical credentials.
Warner, the Fifa vice-president, is locked in a bitter feud with Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, who counts Gopeesingh as one of his right-hand men. On Friday, Warner, the only man of thoroughly African descent in T&T who can be safely described as an honorary East Indian, took offence at Gopeesingh going down the ethnic cleansing road. He said the comments, which smacked of resorting to tribalism, embarrassed him. Warner, who boasts that Chaguanas West is the best-run constituency of the 41 in T&T, said it was up to MPs to set the pace and prevent any polarisation of society.
Riot squad
Later, Manning echoed the sentiments, even going further to label the messenger—Gopeesingh—as a guttersnipe. But the Sunday before, when the One Voice activists, led by Inshan Ishmael, spontaneously found themselves at his St Ann’s palace demanding better healthcare for nationals, Manning’s response was to call in the police riot squad. With the John Jeremie issue still hanging over his head, as well as the raging crime tsunami, Manning’s plate is full.
The pressure is building, and our Prime Minister might just do the unexpected—call a general election in October to defuse all the simmering tensions. He needs just 35 days’ notice, according to the Elections and Boundaries Commission. And between the expected passing of the 2009-2010 Budget, in early September, and the Commonwealth Heads meeting in late November, there is plenty of time.
Gopeesingh lists 13 doctors in ‘ethnic cleansing’
Shaliza Hassanali
Published: 19 Jul 2009
Shaliza Hassanali
Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh is sticking to his claim that there is ethnic cleansing at Port-of-Spain General Hospital. To substantiate his claims, Gopeesingh produced the names of 13 doctors from various departments of the hospital who had been forced to take VSEP, have not had their contracts renewed, or were frustrated out of the system from 2008 to now. During a press conference yesterday in Woodbrook, Gopeesingh responded to statements by Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who stated that the doctor’s remarks in Parliament on Friday were expected from a “guttersnipe and not a parliamentarian.”
Gopeesingh said ethnic cleansing was being carried out among doctors at the hospital. Manning also called on Gopeesingh to withdraw his comment. Gopeesingh said however: “My comments reflect a valid complaint from various sectors of the medical fraternity who, through blatant intimidation and ongoing discrimination by the government, have chosen or been forced to remain quiet on the issue.”
Gopeesingh said institutionalised discrimination had a domino-effect on deteriorating health standards, to the point where lives and limbs were lost. Gopeesingh said he would make no apologies for his statements, since they were valid and worthy of national attention and parliamentary debate. He also pointed out that the issue he raised, as alleged by the PM, was not based on racial relations, but targeted one group of professionals based on a perception that the group was anti-PNM.
With 35 years of medical experience under his belt, Gopeesingh admitted that it was hard for him to vent this issue in public. “But I did so because I felt it was time that the public realised that the PNM is going down a dangerous road of subverting the constitutional rights and guarantees of equality of all citizens for its political purposes.”
List of doctors
• Dr Ajit Kuruvilla
• Dr Gordon Naraynsingh
• Dr Hemant Persad
• Dr John Woo
• Dr Mary Ahow
• Dr Steve Mahadeo
• Dr Robert Ramcharan
• Dr Shehenaz Mohammed
• Dr Kim Hosein
• Dr Robin Hosein
• Dr Godfrey Araujo
• Dr Lall Sawh
• Dr Hassan Khan
http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/07/19/gopeesingh-lists-13-doctors-ethnic-cleansing
Khan: I am a victim of discrimination
Rhonda Krystal Rambally
Published: 19 Jul 2009
Dr Fuad Khan
Rhonda Krystal Rambally
Dr Fuad Khan says he is a victim of discrimination, and he believes “that racism may have had a part to play.” Khan claimed he was bypassed for a senior consultancy position last year for “a less experienced Nigerian doctor” who was working under a senior urologist.
He said that senior urologist and another East Indian doctor “were forced out of the hospital.” In a telephone interview yesterday, Khan said the post of consultant urologist was advertised by the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) around August, last year, and that he had applied. However, after being interviewed by the panel, he said: “I never heard anything after.”
Khan, who has been a senior consultant urologist for the last 16 years, said he met the requirements for the position, unlike the Nigerian surgeon, whose post-graduate degree was not in urology. He claimed that several doctors and members of staff at the hospital also informed him that ethnic cleansing was occurring in the medical field.
Khan said he was the one who had informed Opposition MP, Dr Tim Gopeesingh, of the issue of racism at Port-of-Spain General Hospital, and had asked him to raise the matter before Parliament. Dr Gopeesingh did so on Friday, and Prime Minster Patrick Manning and Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert responded to Gopeesingh’s comment, saying his statements were irresponsible and could provoke racial hatred. Khan said, however:
“They know exactly what they are doing, and it has stung them on their faces. “There seems to be an attempt to frustrate the hiring of local doctors, so that they can control the foreign doctors who are on contract. “They are now making sure that they put us out of the system.” He called on the PNM administration to cease the racial attack on East Indians in the country. “I want the PNM to stop practising racism towards Indians. “I am really serious…I have been pushing for equality in this country, not only for Indians, but for all races.”
Specialists leaving
Khan also claimed that gynaecologists, opthalmologists and anaethesists have left. He even said one of the senior urologists was forced out without compensatory leave. Referring to the late Rosa Parks, who fought for the rights of blacks in the US, Khan said Gopeesingh was fighting for the rights of East Indians.
“Dr Tim is like Rosa Parks. He has begun a civil rights movement for equality of Indian people in T&T.” Khan also said he “found out” that the scholarships offered to nationals to pursue medicine in Grenada were “given to 90 per cent of Africans and ten per cent to East Indians.” Apart from education, he said the intake in the Public Service and the distribution of houses by the government were all part of the ethnic cleansing.
He is calling for a full-scale investigation into the NCRHA, and said he had applied for documents from the Freedom of Information Act, through his attorney Anand Ramlogan. “I am backing Dr Gopeesingh 100 per cent, because of what happened to me.” He said according to Section 4 of the T&T Constitution, no national should be treated unfairly by a public authority or body. “If I have to seek judicial review, I will do that.” Efforts to reach Health Minister Jerry Narace proved futile.
http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2009/07/19/khan-i-am-victim-discrimination
Jack hits back at UNC colleague
Gopeesingh: Ethnic cleansing among doctors at PoS hospital
Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, July 18th 2009
'
Opposition MP Jack Warner yesterday expressed complete disagreement with comments made by fellow Opposition MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh that, according to information he received, there was ethnic cleansing being carried out among doctors at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
"I am in a political party where I meet this every day. Far too often, far too often, where I go, some of us resort to tribalism in the worst possible way and I don't want to be part of that, Mr Speaker, and, therefore, for the records, I want to say that I resent very much this thing about ethnic cleansing," Warner said at yesterday's Parliament sitting.
Warner, who is co-leading a faction for change in the Opposition party along with Opposition MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, did so just one week after he voted in favour of the Government's Securities Bill 2009 during the House of Representatives sitting on July 10.
As his comments were immediately accompanied by desk-thumping from Government MPs, Warner quipped, "You all clapping the table, if you feel you getting me expelled, I have news for you, you know."
Warner spoke out against Gopeesingh's comment less than an hour after Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert said there was no "ethnic cleansing" occurring at the Port of Spain General Hospital. Describing Gopeesingh's comments as scandalous, Imbert said, "I consider it highly irresponsible in the extreme for a member of Parliament to utter these entirely racist statements."
Imbert said Gopeesingh, as a former chief executive officer of a regional health authority, should know that "the majority of doctors in the public health sector in this country are of East Indian descent".
Gopeepsingh said he was told that ethnic cleansing was occurring at the public health institution in the capital city, during his contribution to the debate on the Emergency Ambulance Services and Emergency Medical Personnel Bill, 2009.
But Warner said members of Parliament "must at all times try to avoid further polarising this society" and just because someone claims there is ethnic cleansing going on in a public health institution, they should not necessarily have to repeat it.
Social Development Minister Dr Amery Browne endorsed Warner's comments when he contributed to the debate, and called on Gopeesingh to apologise for his remarks and withdraw them.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161506008
‘Ethnic cleansing’ at PoS hospital—Dr Tim
Richard Lord
Published: 18 Jul 2009
Richard Lord
Opposition MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh claims there is ethnic cleansing at Port-of-Spain General Hospital, an allegation which Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert described as irresponsible in the extreme.
Manning’s comment was made while he was on his seat in the House of Representatives during yesterday’s debate on a bill to establish, among other things, an Ambulance Authority in T&T. The legislation was presented for debate by Health Minister Jerry Narace. But it was during the contribution of Gopeesingh that the claim of racism at the hospital surfaced. “There has been an issue of ethnic cleansing at Port-of-Spain General Hospital as far as the doctors are concerned,” Gopeesingh said. “I understand that most of the East Indian doctors have had to leave Port-of-Spain hospital. I understand the Port-of-Spain (General) hospital is a virtual African hospital now.”
Panday, who was seated in the Chamber, was heard saying in support, “racism.” Gopeesingh said he was told of these developments but was not aware if they were true. Minutes later, he said they were facts. Gopeesingh said there were more than 150 senior doctors in T&T of East Indian descent and “they have been forced out of the service. There is a collaboration between the Medical Chief of Staff and the administrator at the Port-of-Spain hospital, dealing with this situation.” At this point, Speaker Barendra Sinanan intervened, saying that the issue was the subject of another proceeding but not the bill being debated. Later in his contribution, Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert accused Gopeesingh of uttering the “racist statements that could provoke racial hatred.” “Mr Speaker, without a shred of evidence... irresponsible in the extreme,” Imbert said.
Imbert said the vast majority of medical practitioners in the Public Service were East Indians so it was not possible for there to be a majority of African doctors at any public health institutions in T&T. “It is a fact that the majority of doctors in this country are of East Indian descent,” Imbert stressed. He said 80 per cent of the graduates of the faculty of medicine at the University of the West Indies were of East Indian descent. “I can say without any fear of contradiction that the majority of doctors in every hospital in the public health service, with the possible exception of Tobago, are of East Indian descent,” Imbert said. He said he could not stand in the Parliament and allow Gopeesingh to “utter falsehoods and promote racial hatred in this country.” Imbert said Gopeesingh’s claims were “wholly irrelevant, baseless, unfounded, frivolous and vexatious.” He demanded that Gopeesingh prove his claim of ethnic cleansing.
...Manning: Words expected from gutter snipe
Saturday, July 18th 2009
Prime Minister Patrick Manning last evening said that comments made in the Parliament by Opposition MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, that ethnic cleansing is being carried out among doctors at the Port of Spain General Hospital, are the kind to be expected from "gutter snipe" and not a Parliamentarian.
Manning further said that the Parliament is no place for "that kind of talk", as yesterday's debate on a bill concerning ambulance services in this country turned into one that was almost overtaken by the issue of race, after Gopeesingh said there were more doctors of African descent than Indian descent at the public health institution.
"I don't want you to bring it. I'm not interested in it. You see, Mr Speaker, it would have been enough if the member had come and said 'on the basis of this evidence I make this statement', I would have objected also, I would have objected also, Mr Speaker, because evidence or no evidence, that kind of talk in a Parliament like this does us no good," Manning said.
The Prime Minister's comments came in an unplanned contribution to the debate on the Emergency Ambulance Services and Emergency Medical Personnel Bill, 2009, during the House of Representatives sitting at the Red House, Port of Spain.
He made them in response to Gopeesingh's comments earlier in the proceedings that according to what he had been told, there was ethnic cleansing being carried out among doctors at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
Saying that he had respect for Gopeesingh as a doctor and a senior Parliamentarian, Manning said he was "very much taken aback when on the basis on what the honourabale member said he was told, he sought to come to the Parliament to raise an issue of race and to raise it in such a manner that could be the source of tremendous discord".
"It is not the kind of talk that I would ascribe to a member of Parliament. It sounded like the kind of talk that you will expect from a gutter snipe, that is how it sounded to me. Most inappropriate," Manning said, calling on Gopeesingh to withdraw the remarks
