A Case For Commission Of Inquiry

Details

Politics

Tuesday, 03 July 2012 02:30

By Everton Barnes

Antigua St John's - The Antigua Labour Party has made a case for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to probe into all the issues surrounding the Wadadli Power Plant that was commissioned last September, and which has been experiencing a series of challenges since that date.

Representative for St Mary’s North Molwyn Joseph and Senator Lennox Weston used the Fire and Steel radio programme to lay out in detail a case for an inquiry into the WPP affair that has captured the attention of the nation for more than six months.

Noting that an Inquiry is the official position of the ALP, Joseph read from a legal opinion on the matter, which stated that Commissions of Inquiry are a feature of modern democratic societies, and that such probes help to inquire into things of great national concern.

According to the legal brief…inquiries are not judicial proceedings but are fact-finding by nature. It said Commissioners are normally appointed in times of great public disquiet about some aspect of government or some problem of widespread public concern.

It said one of the key differences between an inquiry and an investigation is that an inquiry has wider powers as it takes evidence under oath and that it has subpoena powers.

In amplifying his point, Joseph made reference to the report by Justice Don Mitchell who led a government investigation into the proposed acquisition of power generating equipment from Canada by APUA.

In the report, Justice Mitchell advised the government to seek senior legal advice particularly from an attorney with experience in this area, before entering into any contract with any entity about power generation or other major equipment. Joseph said the government ignored this advice from Justice Mitchell when it entered into an agreement to purchase the equipment from China.

Joseph added that there’s no evidence that the government sought advice from people with the relevant experience and skills before entering into the agreement to purchase the plant from China.

Justice Mitchell said this was needed to protect APUA’s interest. According to Joseph, what happened in the case of the Mitchell Report is proof that Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer cannot be trusted to implement recommendations from an investigation even in a case where he accepted the said report.

Joseph noted that the agreement also contravened a number of the country’s laws.

These include the fact that the agreement has not been brought to parliament as required by the Finance Administration Act of 2006; that it was never submitted to the Tenders Board for vetting as required by the Tenders Board Act, nor was there a waiver of tender that is also required if a matter is not placed before the board.

This is coupled with Spencer’s refusal to make critical documents related to the project available to members of parliament and the media.

Joseph also made mention of Ambassador David Shoul’s refusal to appear before the Public Accounts Committee even after he was summoned.

“Why do you think that he will appear before an inquiry when he refused to appear before the PAC?” he asked.

For his part, Weston said he dismisses out of hand any call for an investigation into ‘value for money’, a point that has been made by ALP Chairman Gaston Browne.

“We are calling for an inquiry, not to investigate value for money, because value for money is very apparent in the case of WPP,” he stated.
Weston said the call for a commission of inquiry is based on the following points;



a) there are concerns over the price paid for the engines as the manufacturer posted a price on the Internet that is significantly lower than that stated by government officials.

b) that despite the government’s claim to the contrary, the ALP’s claim is that the engines are used and if that is the case, then there is fraud, and

c) that if after nine months ‘new’ engines can’t get insurance then something is wrong.

Weston added that the CI must look into fraud, corruption, contravening the laws, and placing undue burden on the population from higher electricity costs.

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