Speaker Barton Scotland’s expected pronouncement on the drug bond controversy that erupted on Thursday night in the National Assembly was deferred yesterday after opposition members failed to return to the parliamentary chambers.
The House took a recess after PPP/C Member of Parliament Clement Rohee and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo finished their presentations on the 2017 budget. However, when the sitting resumed, none of the opposition MPs returned and Speaker Scotland decided that the matter would be adjourned until further notice.
Speaking to Stabroek News last evening, PPP/C MP Anil Nandlall opined that the issue could have been settled on Thursday night and there was no need for it to be postponed to yesterday.
“The Speaker said last night [Thursday] that he will extract a transcript from the recording on the Parliament website and then he will make a decision, but I am not sure why you need a transcript… Because everyone heard what I said. I said there is no medication, not even a tablet stored in the bond,” Nandlall said.
During Nandlall’s debate speech on Thursday night he stated that “not a single tablet” was being stored at the Sussex Street drug bond. Subsequently, Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton asked Nandlall to withdraw his statement while claiming it was not true. The Speaker then asked Norton if medication was being stored at the bond, to which he responded, “Yes, Mr Speaker.”
After exchanges from both sides of the House as to whether Norton’s claims were true, the Speaker made a decision to send one person from each side along with parliamentary staff to ascertain same.
Upon exploring the bond, boxes of condoms, lubricants, umbilical cord clamps and other equipment were found on the shelves. However, PPP/C MP Irfaan Ali, who was selected by his side to go to the bond, had stated that his colleague, Nandlall had indicated that “not even a tablet” was being stored in the bond and asked to see “at least one tablet;” there were none.
When the MPs returned to Parliament another fracas began as the opposition claimed that they went to see whether drugs were being stored and the government claimed that they went to see whether the bond was being used. As the argument continued, the Speaker listened to the recording several times. He made a decision after Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan suggested that the matter be postponed to yesterday when they would be able to get a transcript of the exchange.
Nandlall yesterday explained that the fundamental issue surrounds public accountability and whether renting the bond was the best use of taxpayers’ money. “Is it prudent to spend $14 million per month to rent a facility which we are now told will never store drugs and medication, since it is a secondary bond? Any building anywhere could’ve been rented to store equipment and the materials which are being stored there,” he said.
Nandlall also pointed out that the Cabinet Sub-committee, which was established to investigate the issue surrounding the bond, had recommended that the contract be terminated early. “…Obviously the contract has not yet been terminated and over $90 million would have already been paid in rent,” he pointed out.
“We are told that the country doesn’t have fiscal space but you would recall how many constitutional agencies of crucial importance budgets’ were cut. The Judicial Service Commission, for example, submitted a budget of $15 million and $5 million was cut. That is the budget for the entire year for the commission and it is only one month’s rent for this building that is utterly unfit to store drugs and that is what it was rented for,” Nandlall added.
“This, along with the D’Urban Park scandal will top the scandals for 2016,” he added
