The Manicou Report

It’s old news now that Minister of Foreign affairs Knowlson Gift has resigned from the post giving way to the installation of Arnold Piggott as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Arnold Piggott

Speaking on Mr. Gift’s resignation, Mr. Manning commented that it was entirely voluntary adding that Mr. Gift had told him beforehand that he was going to submit it. Mr. Manning also said that Mr. Gift’s resignation was due to the fact that both he and Mr. Gift failed to see eye-to-eye on matters concerning the Ministry so Mr. Gift thought it best to resign. While we’re on the topic, this is not the first time that Mr. Gift has resigned from office. In 1995 Mr. Gift resigned from exactly the same post of Minister of Foreign Affairs that time over allegations of “financial improprieties”.

I posted earlier this month on Mr. Manning’s scathing remarks directed at the U.S. Government in a speech he delivered at the BGTT Luncheon Series where he accused the United States of abandoning the Caribbean in its war on drugs. Somehow I get the feeling that his resignation this time is part of the backlash from the Prime Minister’s remarks. Of course this is pure speculation on my part.

But who is this Arnold Piggott you ask? Well, let me give you a snippet of a story written when Arnold Piggott was The Trinbagonian High Commissioner to Canada not 6 months ago. The story can be found right here in its entirty.

Impaired envoys continue to be granted immunity

Kathy Tomlinson, CTV News

Updated: Thu. Mar. 30 2006 6:32 AM ET

He’s formally referred to as “His Excellency” — a top diplomat in Ottawa — but last March, police say Arnold Piggott was spotted driving erratically on Ottawa’s Vanier Parkway.

Police pulled him over, suspecting he was driving impaired. Piggott is the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago — so diplomatic immunity protects him from being detained or prosecuted by Canadian authorities. Ottawa police charged him with driving impaired and refusing to provide a breath sample. Because of his diplomatic immunity, though, he hasn’t been prosecuted.

It was something the Canadian government pledged would never happen again — after an impaired Russian diplomat struck and killed Ottawa lawyer Catherine MacLean in 2001. The foreign affairs minister at the time, John Manley, vowed there would be “zero tolerance.”

So who is Arnold Piggott? A Foreign Affairs Minister who breaks laws in other countries….allegedly. (*long deep sniff* Can you smell the irony? By the way, irony smells almost exactly like balisier. What an absolute coincidence.)

However this wasn’t the first time something like this has happened in Canada, and following suit from the seven other countries with bad-behaving High Commissioners, Trinidad and Tobago opted not to wave his right to diplomatic immunity.

So gather around kids and welcome our new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Arnold Piggott. Please step over the baggage.