Yvonne Ba­boolal

The com­mis­sion of en­quiry in­to the Ju­ly 1990 at­tempt­ed over­throw of the Gov­ern­ment re­sumes to­day at the Caribbean Court of Ap­peal on Hen­ry Street, Port-of-Spain. Two po­lice­men who were guard­ing for­mer Na­tion­al Al­liance for Re­con­struc­tion prime min­is­ter Arthur NR Robin­son dur­ing the or­deal are on a wit­ness list to tes­ti­fy to­day.

The en­quiry be­gan two years ago and there have been 13 ses­sions so far. Af­ter this 14th ses­sion, the en­quiry is ex­pect­ed to wrap up by March. A large num­ber of wit­ness­es, in­clud­ing politi­cians, of­fi­cers from the pro­tec­tive ser­vices, rel­a­tives of vic­tims and mem­bers of the Ja­maat al Mus­limeen who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the coup at­tempt, have tes­ti­fied so far.

In the last few ses­sions, it ap­peared there was a prob­lem in get­ting wit­ness­es. Ja­maat al Mus­limeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr, who led the at­tempt­ed over­throw, is yet to tes­ti­fy. Bakr, de­spite re­peat­ed re­quests by the com­mis­sion, has failed to show. A wit­ness state­ment from Bakr is yet to be heard at the en­quiry.

He has blamed an on­go­ing sedi­tion court tri­al and poor health as rea­sons for not show­ing at the en­quiry. For­mer prime min­is­ters Patrick Man­ning and Bas­deo Pan­day, who were not present in Par­lia­ment when the Mus­limeen stormed the Red House on Ju­ly 27, 1990, have not tes­ti­fied.

Man­ning suf­fered a stroke and his health has been af­fect­ed. Pan­day has re­port­ed­ly said he would at­tend if he is al­lowed to cross-ex­am­ine wit­ness­es who made al­le­ga­tions against him. The en­quiry opens to­day with ques­tions sur­round­ing the ap­point­ment of com­mis­sion­er Dr Hafi­zo­ol Ali Mo­hammed.

A T&T Guardian re­port Tues­day claimed it was a se­nior Cab­i­net mem­ber who in­sist­ed Mo­hammed be se­lect­ed a com­mis­sion­er. The re­port said Mo­hammed told the T&T Guardian he ob­tained his doc­tor­ate of sci­ence de­gree in in­ter­na­tion­al re­la­tions from At­lantic In­ter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty. The re­port said var­i­ous Web sites de­scribe the uni­ver­si­ty as a "diplo­ma mill."