Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

For­mer prime min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning will not take the na­tion's high­est award–the Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of T&T.Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar had an­nounced on Thurs­day that she rec­om­mend­ed to Pres­i­dent An­tho­ny Car­mona that Man­ning and his pre­de­ces­sor, Bas­deo Pan­day, be award­ed the ORTT, which would have been be­stowed on him dur­ing the na­tion­al awards cer­e­mo­ny on In­de­pen­dence Day (Au­gust 31).

But in a state­ment yes­ter­day, Man­ning, who has served T&T for 43 years with­in the Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment hi­er­ar­chy, said apart from the fact that he was not con­sult­ed, on prin­ci­ple he could not ac­cept it as the sit­ting MP for San Fer­nan­do East.Fur­ther­more, he said he could not ac­cept such an award from Per­sad-Bisses­sar un­less the award was com­ing with a re­trac­tion of the ven­omous at­tacks against his char­ac­ter from her, which, he said, con­tin­ue to this day.

"I wish to re­spect­ful­ly de­cline the pub­licly an­nounced nom­i­na­tion by the Ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter to have me re­ceive The Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of T&T, this na­tion's high­est award. The pri­ma­ry rea­son is root­ed firm­ly in my prin­ci­pled stance to not ac­cept any T&T awards while serv­ing as an MP," Man­ning said in the re­lease.

Fo­cussing on Per­sad-Bisses­sar's at­tacks on him while she was in Op­po­si­tion and now as PM, he said, "Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was able to win gov­ern­ment on May 24, 2010, through a se­ries of sus­tained and vi­cious at­tacks on my char­ac­ter that was led per­son­al­ly by her. These at­tacks con­tin­ue. Through this nom­i­na­tion an­nounce­ment is the Prime Min­is­ter re­tract­ing those ven­omous ac­cu­sa­tions and charges against me?"

He said he was on­ly made aware of his nom­i­na­tion through Face­book and a call from a news­pa­per to his son for a com­ment."I was nei­ther con­sult­ed, nor ad­vised pri­or to this an­nounce­ment. I con­sid­er this ap­proach a gross dis­cour­tesy.

"Un­der PNM ad­min­is­tra­tions, a com­mit­tee con­sid­ers these dis­tin­guished na­tion­al awards, with the Chief Jus­tice as chair­man and sub­ject to the im­pri­matur of the Prime Min­is­ter. Due process for these awards in­cludes in­form­ing the po­ten­tial re­cip­i­ents through the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter in a con­fi­den­tial man­ner." Nev­er­the­less, he said he would have de­clined any­way."Had I been con­sult­ed be­fore­hand, I would have been able to pri­vate­ly de­cline.

"The need for a pub­lic dis­tanc­ing is un­for­tu­nate but nec­es­sary in the light of the many and in­creas­ing­ly de­bauched ap­proach­es to these mat­ters used by this UNC ad­min­is­tra­tion in its four years in of­fice."Man­ning said al­though he was turn­ing down the award, he held T&T's in­sti­tu­tions, cer­e­monies and awards in the high­est es­teem."I pray for the day when the Hon Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the PP Gov­ern­ment demit of­fice and we can once again take our pride in our lib­er­ty."

Ef­forts to con­tact Pan­day for com­ment failed as he is cur­rent­ly out of the coun­try. He did not re­spond to e-mails or text mes­sages.

'I learned of award via FB, me­dia calls'

For­mer prime min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning Man­ning yes­ter­day an­nounced that he was turn­ing down the Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of T&T award.Fol­low­ing is Man­ning's full state­ment:

I wish to re­spect­ful­ly de­cline the pub­licly an­nounced nom­i­na­tion by the Ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter to have me re­ceive The Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, this na­tion's high­est award. The pri­ma­ry rea­son is root­ed firm­ly in my prin­ci­pled stance to not ac­cept any Trinidad and To­ba­go awards while serv­ing as an MP.Ad­di­tion­al­ly, it is im­por­tant to note what is ap­pro­pri­ate and what is not, re­gard­ing the an­nounce­ment of such awards.

The award of the Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go is giv­en to a na­tion­al of Trinidad and To­ba­go who "has ren­dered dis­tin­guished and out­stand­ing ser­vice to Trinidad and To­ba­go."The Hon Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar was able to win gov­ern­ment on May 24, 2010, through a se­ries of sus­tained and vi­cious at­tacks on my char­ac­ter that was led per­son­al­ly by her. These at­tacks con­tin­ue. Through this nom­i­na­tion an­nounce­ment is the Hon Prime Min­is­ter re­tract­ing those ven­omous ac­cu­sa­tions and charges against me?

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, I was made aware of this nom­i­na­tion through per­sons who saw it re­port­ed on the so­cial me­dia, Face­book. Sub­se­quent­ly, a dai­ly news­pa­per called one of my sons for a com­ment on the nom­i­na­tion. I was nei­ther con­sult­ed, nor ad­vised pri­or to this an­nounce­ment. I con­sid­er this ap­proach a gross dis­cour­tesy.

Un­der PNM ad­min­is­tra­tions, a com­mit­tee con­sid­ers these dis­tin­guished na­tion­al awards, with the Chief Jus­tice as chair­man and sub­ject to the im­pri­matur of the Prime Min­is­ter. Due process for these awards in­cludes in­form­ing the po­ten­tial re­cip­i­ents through the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter in a con­fi­den­tial man­ner. On­ly re­cip­i­ents who have agreed to ac­cept an award are then an­nounced pub­licly, and with dig­ni­ty.

Had I been con­sult­ed be­fore­hand, I would have been able to pri­vate­ly de­cline. The need for a pub­lic dis­tanc­ing is un­for­tu­nate but nec­es­sary in the light of the many and in­creas­ing­ly de­bauched ap­proach­es to these mat­ters used by this UNC ad­min­is­tra­tion in its four years in of­fice.I as­sure all cit­i­zens that I hold our in­sti­tu­tions, cer­e­monies and awards in the high­est es­teem and I pray for the day when the Hon Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and the PP gov­ern­ment demit of­fice and we can once again "take our pride in our lib­er­ty."

PM re­sponds

In an im­me­di­ate re­sponse yes­ter­day, PM Per­sad-Bisses­sar said it was un­for­tu­nate Man­ning had de­clined."What­ev­er dif­fer­ences we may share po­lit­i­cal­ly, the award sought to ho­n­our Mr Man­ning for his decades of ser­vice as a par­lia­men­tar­i­an. It was meant to be a ges­ture of mag­na­nim­i­ty and a mo­ment to reach be­yond the is­sues that di­vide us to ac­knowl­edge Mr Man­ning's many na­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions," the PM said in a state­ment.

"It is re­gret­table that in re­ject­ing the nom­i­na­tion, Mr Man­ning should seek to politi­cise the mat­ter. His com­ments run against the grain of what was a well in­tend­ed ges­ture."The con­cept of recog­nis­ing the long and ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice of men and women who com­mit­ted their lives to the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go must al­so been seen dif­fer­ent­ly as we grow and ma­ture as a na­tion."

She said the de­ci­sion to ho­n­our Man­ning was based on the chang­ing phi­los­o­phy that had un­der­lined the re­forms brought by the PP in Gov­ern­ment."While we ac­knowl­edge Mr Man­ning's right to re­ject the ho­n­our, it is my hope that the ide­al of reach­ing be­yond the di­vide of pol­i­tics to ho­n­our those who served the na­tion has not been lost," she said.