By Sandra Chouthi

Special to Indo-Caribbean World
Port-of-Spain – Even as FIFA vice-president Jack Warner faces allegations of bribery before this world organisation, at home he remains a hero among his supporters in his role as Works and Transport Minister. Warner is under suspension by FIFA pending investigations over the bribery allegations.
He is also a major player in the politician landscape in Trinidad and Tobago as chairman of the United National Congress, which is a major party in the People's Partnership government.
When Warner, 67, returned to Trinidad in early June from spending a week in Zurich, Switzerland, he received a hero's welcome at the Piarco International Airport.
He is regarded across the nation as a hard-working minister and is well-known as someone who gets the job done.
An opinion survey conducted by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association in mid-May, just prior to the PP's first anniversary in office, showed Warner in the lead with 33 percent. The question was which minister or Member of Parliament has shown the most courage in taking on the PNM opposition and defending the government's decisions.
The poll also asked which Minister or MP has best handled the weight of high public office while remaining focused and effective. Again, Warner led with 35 percent.
While Warner was dealing with the allegations in Zurich, there were calls in Trinidad and Tobago for him to step down from public office. Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar should relieve Warner of his role as Works and Transport Minister in the interest of good governance. A similar call was made by Prakash Ramadhar, Legal Affairs Minister.
The NACTA poll found Warner was still popular in spite of calls for him to step down.
The poll indicated that very few people agree that Warner should step aside until the investigations are concluded. The overwhelming majority held the view that he should stay in office given that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
What is contributing to Warner's popularity is the public seeing major road work being undertaken, including refurbishment of the southbound lanes of the Uriah Butler Highway, the completion of the interchange at the Churchill Roosevelt Highway, and easing of the traffic into the town of Chaguanas.
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has defended Jack, as he has defended her in the past.
In a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on May 28 — while Warner was in Zurich responding to the allegations — Persad Bissessar said he was innocent until proven guilty.
"It is a fundamental tenet of the rule of law that a man is innocent until proven guilty. This right is enshrined in the constitution of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago and is an important pillar in our system of justice," the statement said.
The decision by FIFA to initiate a "provisional suspension" of Warner, pending investigation is not a determination of guilt. It was part of a process that "we trust will be fair and unprejudiced," it continued.
The PM added: "A 'provisional suspension' is not to be equated with a finding of guilt, far less a sentence based on a finding of wrongdoing. The process must now be allowed to go its full course since as I said, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Port-of-Spain - Political leader of the Congress of the People Winston Dookeran on Saturday announced that he was stepping down from the position. The announcement came after an emergency meeting at COP's Flagship headquarters at Broome Street, Port-of-Spain. Dookeran will remain as Minister of Finance in the People's Partnership government and Member of Parliament for Tunapuna.
His announcement makes way for a new leader of the party that was founded in 2006. Dookeran took over the leadership in September, 2006 when he resigned as political leader of the UNC.
Following a meeting involving COP executive members and parliamentary representatives, Dookeran said: "I will not offer myself as a candidate for the leadership of the COP in the July 3 election."
He added that he had not officially informed Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of his plans, "But I had indicated that this decision was made during the course of this week," he said.
COP is set to elect a new leader on July 3 and the deadline for nominations for that post is June 12.
To date, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs and MP for D'Abadie/O'Meara Anil Roberts and COP vice-chairman Vernon De Lima have confirmed that they will be contesting the political leader's post. Sources within the party have said that MP for St Augustine and Minister of Legal Affairs Prakash Ramadhar was also expected to throw his hat in the ring for the post of political leader job.
Dookeran said he will not be endorsing any candidate in the upcoming election. "It is not my intention to endorse any candidate and it is my hope that we can provide scrutiny to those who wish to offer themselves for candidacy," he said.
At the media conference, Dookeran said he felt his decision would not change the relationship between the COP and the People's Partnership government, adding, "It ought not to change that relationship. In fact it might help."
For those who criticised how he exercised his leadership, he said: "Many have been dissatisfied with my style of leadership. I acknowledge that each individual has his own style. But what I do know is that it is not style that matters, it is content that matters, content measured in the end by results."
Roberts has been Dookeran's most constant critic.
At a May 15 National Council meeting at the party's Operations Centre in Charlieville, a meeting described as "passionate" by COP chairman Joseph Toney, Roberts called on supporters to give him a chance to breathe new life into a dying COP that he said he believed had lost its way. Roberts also claimed there was a huge separation between the COP leadership and the people who supported the party from its inception.
Roberts was diplomatic in commenting on Dookeran's stepping down:
"Winston Dookeran has shown he is a true statesman and a man who is true to his word. From the beginning and when he founded the party based on the principles of new politics, Mr Dookeran always said he would make way for succession and new leaders to come through because in the new politics, any person, regardless of race, creed, religion etc., could vie for the top post.
"He is not going to be dragged out of office kicking and screaming like other former political leaders."
Roberts also said he welcomed more people to join in the contest (for political leader) because the COP was a democratic party and elections must be competitive and fair for the party to move forward.

Port-of-Spain – Lawyers working for the Ministry of the Attorney General are planning a series of civil lawsuits to be brought against former Prime Minister Patrick Manning and former Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago executive chairman Calder Hart.
With a criminal investigation into Hart and the UDeCOTT board pending for over a year now Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has taken things into his own hands. Lawyers are now preparing a case against Hart and other UDeCOTT officials which will be launched in the coming months, reliable sources told the media last week.
The Attorney General has held a series of secret meetings with UDeCOTT chairman Jearlene John to discuss this issue and has been working for weeks with lawyers towards building a case of civil liability against the former executive chairman.
The Attorney General was said to be close to bringing a civil case against Hart and the former UDeCOTT board. Such a case could be along similar lines seen in the lawsuits brought by the Central Bank against Lawrence Duprey and Andre Monteil last week. The case would hold Hart liable for breaches of fiduciary, contractual and common law duties in his capacity as the UDeCOTT executive chairman and could be launched at the High Court in the "coming months".
Additionally, it was disclosed that the Ministry of the Attorney General is expected to launch a civil lawsuit against former Prime Minister Patrick Manning before the end of June. Questioned at the current government retreat in Tobago, Ramlogan would not deny the reports saying, "wait and see". He would also not divulge details and would not say whether the two suits were related.
It is understood that the civil law case being built against Manning may not be confined to the circumstances surrounding Hart's involvement in the construction of a controversial church at the Heights of Guanapo in Arima for the benefit of Manning's so-called spiritual advisor Juliana Pena. Sources said lawyers could also be working on building a case of libel against Manning, long threatened by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in relation to comments made last year at a press conference outside of the Parliament chamber.
The use of civil litigation, which is risky due to the costs and delays involved, has recently been embraced as an alternative means of handling allegations against public officials, in circumstances where the system of criminal justice has appeared slow to clear or implicate officials in situations relating to sophisticated white-collar cases.
In relation to the plans to sue Hart, it is expected that the civil law case would relate to the findings of the Uff Commission of Inquiry into Udecott as well as ongoing forensic probes.

Port-of-Spain – Hundreds of land and home owners along the South West Peninsula are poised to become overnight millionaires under the People's Partnership government if it is successful in acquiring the funding for the construction of the highway from San Fernando to Point Fortin.
The highway is expected to cost approximately (TT) $7.3 billion. However, $2 billion of that sum has been allocated towards land acquisition.
The majority of those who will benefit from this windfall live within constituencies controlled by the People's Partnership — Siparia, Oropouche East and Oropouche West.
However, questions are being raised about the $2 billion tab which is to be set aside to compensate residents who must uproot themselves and their families to make way for the highway which has been about 40 years in the making.
Colm Imbert, former Works and Transport Minister under the People's National Movement government, says he would like to know who came up with the figure and how. Imbert is describing the figure as mysterious.
He said that under his stewardship at the Ministry, the figure was much lower.
"Tenders were received on May 10, 2010," Imbert said.
"The lowest bid was (Constructura) OAS (Limited) of Brazil at approximately $5.2 billion. Subsequent to that, the price was mysteriously increased to over $7 billion. I never understood that and, on enquiry, I was told that the additional $2 billion plus was for land acquisition," he said.
Additionally, "I didn't understand that either because our estimate for land acquisition was about $700 million. So, it is actually three times the actual estimate that we had done and we had surveyed the route and mapped out the properties that had to be acquired. So when I heard that the land acquisition was $2 billion or more, I was amazed and I couldn't understand who would come up with that figure."
It was Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who, at the sod turning ceremony for the highway on January 25, announced that $2 billion was to be spent on land acquisition for the 45-kilometre-long highway.
"Businesses and private individuals will have to be adequately compensated for their properties and the disruption and disturbance to their businesses and lives that the construction of this highway will cause," Persad-Bissessar said.
"These persons must be adequately compensated and the government will not shirk from its duty but will treat with all citizens equitably and fairly."
Works and Transport Minister, Jack Warner, confidently proclaimed that construction of the highway would have commenced on February 22, although funding was not yet received for the project. But he didn't see this as a major issue.
He told reporters that acquiring the funding would have been "a piece of cake" as there were several local and foreign banks "falling over themselves" to fund projects in Trinidad and Tobago.
The plan seems to have hit a snag with Finance Minister Winston Dookeran's announcement last month that the government could not raise the total sum required for the highway's construction.
He said the government now proposes to raise the money on an annual basis.
Responding to Dookeran's statement, Imbert said his understanding is that a letter of award was sent to Constructura OAS Limited subject to financing.
"So if you take Dookeran's statement at face value, the government cannot proceed with the contract until the financing is resolved.
"The next problem that I have been told about is that the government gave the contractor a three-month contract to start some preliminary design work on the project in the sum of $50 million. This was done in order to keep them in Trinidad because no large international contractor is going to hang around while the government sorts out its problems with the financing. That three months expired a day or two ago," he said.
Said Imbert: "The government is now scrambling to find money to continue that temporary contract, if you want to call it that. Some site clearance is being done by a local contractor hired by the Ministry of Works. If I were to give it the best possible interpretation, that (site clearance) is intended to give a semblance of activity. It is more or less a pretence that something is going on."
Communications Manager at the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited, Ingrid Ishmael, last month said that NIDCO had instructed Constructura OAS Limited to begin work.
Ishmael said instructions were given to the contractor to hire a consultant to come up with designs for the highway. She said the consultant, Halcrow, has come up with a number of designs.