(Trinidad Express) – Prime Minister Patrick Manning admitted that he gave inaccurate information to the Parliament when he delivered his statement on church/state relations three weeks ago.

Manning, who since then has been sent to the Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading the House, sought via “personal explanation” at last Friday’s sitting to acknowledge his error and to express his “regret” at making it.

He told the Parliament he made a statement indicating that the former UNC Government gave 25 acres of land to one Baptist group (the archdiocese led by former UNC senator Barbara Burke).

Manning said since making that statement to the Parliament, he was able to ascertain that the UNC Government had given five acres of land to two Baptist groups, and not 25 acres to one group.

“It seems to be the right thing to do to correct the record,” he said, adding that the “error was regrettable”.

Manning’s personal explanation will be taken into account by the Privileges Committee when it decides if he deliberately misled the House and if so, whether he should be penalised for this breach.

It is the proper parliamentary thing to do, if one gives false information to the Parliament, to return to the Parliament as soon as possible and correct the inaccuracy.

One Friday ago, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar raised the matter and provided copies of the Memoranda to the two Baptist groups, to prove her contention that Manning “conveyed information to the House that was inaccurate in material particulars and which he knew or ought to have known was inaccurate”.

House Speaker Barry Sinanan then immediately referred the matter to the Privileges Committees, pointing out that a prima facie case of deliberately misleading the House carried greater weight if the imputed statement was made in the context of a “personal explanation or statement by ministers (as was the case with Manning), rather than a statement made in the cut and thrust of the debate”