He linked an incident involving a police constable and his security detail in July 2008 to the assassination plot which the prime minister said did not end in bloodshed, only because he did not earlier report it to the police.

The constable, Clinton Auguste, was dismissed from the police service earlier this year by a tribunal for disorderly conduct when he became belligerent with members of the prime minister’s security detail, whom he accused of reckless driving.

It was the third such time that Prime Minister Manning has cried out about an attempt on his life.

Four years ago, again on the anniversary of the coup attempt, he claimed his life was under threat, requiring an increase in his security.

In November 2003, Manning, who is head of the National Security Committee of Parliament and also the quasi leader on national security

issues in the Caribbean Community, made a similar statement.

I find it quite alarming that death threats — real or imagined — can

be made on the head of a government, and proper investigations have not

taken place to bring the would-be perpetrators to justice, or even to

determine whether the claims are baseless.

As far as I know, there has been no probe by the police into Mr.

Manning’s two claims that someone wants him dead.

It is hoped that the police will launch a full investigation into the

latest claim of an assassination by the prime minister, which he

disclosed at a political meeting.

A police investigation is seriously needed to uncover the organisation

that Mr. Manning referred to; who was the person who walked off the

street and into the office of the Minister of Local Government, Hazel

Manning, who is his wife, to report the threat against her husband; what

was said, and why was the person allowed to leave; the reasons for it

not being reported to the police; and even more baffling, why, with

this information of a death threat, would Mr. Manning leave the

security of his well-guarded vehicle and seek to confront police

constable Auguste, about whether he knew who he (Mr. Manning) was.

Too many questions and very little answers on this serious issue, as

Mr. Manning has refused to further comment on it when approached by the media.

It’s the same nonchalance over another serious issue that the country

has been witnessing over the last 19 years, as calls for an inquiry

into the 1990 coup attempt involving 114 members of Jamaat al

Muslimeem continue to be ignored by the political directorate.

There have been some suggestions that Mr. Manning’s claim of a death

threat against his life on the 19th anniversary was a red herring to

divert attention from the growing clamor for an government-appointed

commission of inquiry into the coup d’etat to take place.

Imagine a large gang of armed thugs violently invading a sitting of

parliament, capturing hostages, including the prime minister, ministers

and opposition members. At another venue, armed rebels take over a

television station, turning journalists and other workers into their

hostages.

For six long days, the entire country is under siege. Buildings burn

to the ground; stores are looted; millions are lost — and two dozen

people, including a sitting parliamentarian, are left dead.

Two of the current political players, Mr Manning and Opposition Leader

Basdeo Panday, were absent from the House of Representatives on July

27, 1990 when the chamber was invaded.

Governments under Mr. Manning and Mr. Panday have refused outright

to hold any inquiry into the events surrounding the insurgency. For

them, it’s a case of ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.

These two political leaders have also courted the Jamaat al Muslimeen

and its leader, Yasin Abu Bakr during their campaigning for general

elections.

Bakr — who was freed along with former insurrectionists after a High

Court upheld an amnesty, which they received during the coup attempt —

has boasted openly that because of his help, and depending on whose

side he was on, that the UNC and the PNM were able to win their

elections.

The High Court ruling upholding the amnesty, incidentally, was quashed

by the Privy Council, which ruled that it was given under duress.

When calls for an inquiry were repeated last year, Mr. Manning said

people’s memories would have faded, citing it as yet another reason

why there shouldn’t be one.

Over the last two weeks, a radio station ran a series of interviews

involving former hostages and military officials about the coup

attempt, clearly reflecting that people’s memory are very much intact,

as they related detail by detail.

Every year when the 1990 coup attempt anniversary rolls around, I

always remember how close I was to being killed when the gunmen

stormed the Parliament Chamber with their guns blazing.

Journalists, members of the public, parliamentarians and parliament

workers scampered for safety, fleeing along the corridor for escape.

I never made it outside that day. I ran and ran until there was nowhere

to run and hid under a desk with two other persons.

The next morning, we were caught by gun-toting Muslimeen soldiers

and taken to the Chamber, where I saw the now ex-prime minister, ANR

Robinson, ministers and parliamentarians with their feet and hands

tied.

There were also heaps of arms and ammunition on the ground around the Chamber, which was heavily guarded by armed rebels.

Several hours later, I was released, and along with Winston Dookeran,

who was then appointed interim prime minister; Mediator, Father Knolly

Clarke; wounded government parliamentarian, Leo des Vignes, who later

died; and the two other persons found with me, we made our way out the

Parliament, our hands up in the air in surrender, as guns — from the

army, police and Muslimeen were trained on us.

I don’t know the real reasons why both the Panday and Manning

administrations have denied the country a Commission of Inquiry into

the 1990 insurrection, but I do know that whatever arguments they have

put forward are very unconvincing, and their denial for it only adds to

suspicion that people have about them and their motives.

It was a pitiful sight last Monday to see the ailing ANR Robinson, who

has lost most of his sight and can only walk with the assistance of

another person, also making his call to the authorities for an inquiry

into the coup attempt.

It came from his voice, now feeble — a far comparison to the voice of

conviction when he ignored demands to order the army and police to

stop shooting and instead bravely called on them to “attack with full

force,” which earned him a beating on his head, and a gunshot to his leg.

Next year makes it 20 years since the coup attempt. It’s still not too
late for a probe into it.