No comment from former government on highway judgment

Former members of the People’s Partnership government who were a part of a special Cabinet committee set up to oversee the construction of the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension distanced themselves from the ruling of Justice James Aboud on Monday.

Aboud said in a written decision that the PP government disregarded and broke promises to the Highway Re-route Movement (HRM) to review the Armstrong Committee’s report.

“The first promise of a review was made by a person no less than the prime minister," he said. "This surely must have been received as a promise coming from a believable and genuine source. The promise was repeated on other occasions by another minister of government and other public officials.

“It seems to me that these representations were disingenuously made for the purpose of gaining a tactical advantage and defusing a complex predicament.”

He ruled that the State breached Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the HRM’s legitimate expectation of a meaningful review and that the PP regime would abide by the report of former independent senator Dr James Armstrong.

In 2013 Armstrong led an independent technical study of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the extension of the highway.

On Wednesday former national security minister Jack Warner told Newsday, “Yes, I read the article in the newspaper about the ruling and I just shook my head. I do not want to get involved. I prefer not to comment,” he said.

Aboud condemned Warner in his ruling for ordering the destruction of the HRM’s campsite and arrest of Kublalsingh.

Aboud said, “I get the impression that Mr Warner’s decisions were meant to demonstrate the brute force of the State and its intolerance of the HRM’s persistent dissent...Nothing has been adduced before me to prove that the presence of the protest camp was unlawful, whether in terms of its location or its activities.”

Another member, Chandresh Sharma, former MP for Fyzabad, also did not have much to say.

He said, “I can only speak for myself and I respect the decision made and if there is any additional action to be taken, I am confident that the matter will be handled adequately by the judicial system.”

Opposition leader and former PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who chaired the committee, and other members could not be reached for comment.

An elated Kublalsingh said it was about time the authorities recognised the people who were directly affected were betrayed by a government that they trusted.

He said, “These people have been absolutely vilified by successive governments, they have been betrayed, insulted, arrested for the homes and communities they built.

“I am glad that the judge recognised that and was able to tell that nation that the behaviour by government officials, technocrats, bureaucrats ought not to be countenanced.”

Kublalsingh and six other members of the HRM were awarded $500,000 for breach of their constitutional rights.