THE last time Larry Achong said anything in the House of Representatives, he was making an apology for cussing opposition MPs black is white, in the tea room.

The cussout was recorded on the same day that Caroni East MP Ganga Singh identified him as one of the men who allegedly brokered the deal to plant guns and cocaine in the watertank at the home of Sadiq Baksh.

For weeks after that, the Point Fortin MP, who ran silent in the House after he resigned from Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s Cabinet and was relegated to the end of the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) back bench remained silent.

Except, of course, when he spent time in ole talk with his colleagues Fitzgerald Hinds and Franklin Khan in what is now officially a rude boy corner in the Lower House.

But last Friday he was most anxious to get off his seat to contribute to debate on a private motion from Tabaquite MP, Adesh Nanan, calling on the government to strengthen its environmental regulations in light of the proposed smelter plants and to also give an idea of the economic benefits and define the level of emissions.

It’s not only because one of the plants fall smack in the middle of his Point Fortin constituency, but he must have been holding a beef against Guardian journalist Shaliza Hassanali and columnist Atillah Springer who had cause to “pong” the MP, for organising pro-smelter rallies.

It’s bad enough, for Larry, that they were simply doing their jobs, but it’s even worse that they are working for the Guardian, which was the newspaper that published extensively the allegations by Vernon Paul, which led to Achong’s “Vagina Monologues” in the tea room, as this column previously reported.

VERNON PAUL

SADIQ BAKSH

Well, he sullied both their names, accusing them of being on the payroll of the anti-smelter campaigners, as if environmentalists ever had more money to throw around than the multi-nationals, including ALCOA that has already organised a junket in Brazil for some greedy journalists on the business beat.

Anyone who really knows Guardian columnist Atillah Springer would insist that she definitely won’t be taking money to protest against anything.

She will do it for free and then walk home to Santa Cruz with buss-up slippers if she had to.

Shaliza Hassanali is a people’s journalist, having been trained under the old Sheppy here at TnT Mirror and will shut down anyone who dares to even make an offer!

One week after both ladies denied his allegations, Achong could not say whether he had documentary evidence, like cheques of payments or anything like that, to prove his allegations against the ladies, made under Parliamentary privilege.

“I stand by what I said in Parliament,” Achong replied when the question of whether he had evidence was out to him last Thursday morning,

“Let them challenge it,” he insisted, obviously bluffing his way out of giving some kind of hard evidence.

“You know as a reporter, you would say where you get your information is privileged, well I can plead the same case,” he added.

“Those two journalists are two irresponsible journalists that I have come across and I do not know them personally, but they have written a lot of nonsense about me threatening people to support the smelter or lose their jobs.

“How could you accuse the MP of threatening people’s livelihoods? I don’t engage in that kind of thing,” he added, calmly.

“PNM is in charge of Point Fortin, we do not have to threaten anybody,” he insisted.

Well, it was clear that Achong’s style did not allow for him to write a letter to the editor challenging the allegations that were printed; or even seek to give his side of the story.

Instead, he held it in his craw and used Parliamentary privilege to make the obscene allegations which he obviously cannot back up.

It was all that anybody could remember from his presentation in the Lower House and even after his high profile on local television -- Gayelle, CNC 3 and TV6 on the following days -- no one has been more enlightened or convinced that the government can truly respond to the fears harboured by the residents of Chatham, especially.

Now, after this rude interruption as it were, Achong will return to his old ways of simply killing time and loafing on the back bench, which is what most MPs do in the lower House, anyway!

It turns out that the highlight of a debate on the proposed smelter project among the country’s top law makers was one burly MPs foul accusations against two lady journalists!