MATT PRESIDENT A HYPOCRITE WHEN IT COMES TO GOVERNMENT FUNDING ?? It was with great alarm that I read the article entitled Governments 15,000 per diem for journalist in the Sunday Express of December 28th. In said article, the author alledged that the named media workers received the per diem whilst accompanying the Prime Minister on a recent a trip to the Peoples Republic of China. I wish to clear up the misconceptions dispersed by this article in what is clearly another piece aimed solely at misguiding the public and undermining the performance of the Peoples Partnership. Per diem refers to a sum of money normally given to persons as part of their subsistence when representing Trinidad and Tobago abroad. The Per diem is pre-set via a Circular sent in 2007 by then Minister of Finance Patrick Manning - clearly establishing the guidelines as to the amount of money per day for regular staff and executive staff, as well as special allowances such as economy vs first class and warm clothing grants. It is important to note that in every case where persons are to travel as part of an official delegation - a note must be formulated and passed through all levels of bureaucracy within the Public Service from the Central Administration Unit of the relevant Ministry to the Permanent Secretary then to the Finance and General Purpose Committee, after which it is confirmed by the entire Cabinet. In short, there are varying levels of scrutiny that each instance of travel and issuance of per diem must go through - and only then after all criteria have been satisfied will it be furthered for processing. What is ironic and hypocritical is that the President of the Media Association Curtis Williams who is quoted in the article is one and the same with the Curtis Williams who received over $100,000.00 from the now infamous PNM secret scholarship fund. While Mr. Williams has neglected to answer the following questions, how was it that he accessed the PNM scholarship fund while the public at large remained ignorant to its very existence, who was the PNM sponsor that handed him the funding to study abroad, and most importantly why did he accept it when there were clear markers of underhandedness and corruption. That was indeed a PAY OUT and a PAY OFF especially when other PNM media sympathisers such as I95.5s Jerome Lewis and PNM Senators such as Ms. Lezama Lew Singh were beneficiaries of up to $500,000.00. Where was the MATT Presidents sense of righteous indignation then, did he not find it a disgrace that he secretly benefitted while the very media personnel he now represents toiled away honestly? Did he declare his receipt of the secret funds to his employer at the time - why was it that only when I as a social activist and now Attorney General Anand Ramlogan took the PNM Government of the day to the courts that this fund came to be public knowledge? These are the questions that Mr.Williams must address and do so urgently or be branded a hypocrite, by the very public he wishes to mislead! - because it seems to me that his sckullarship was in fact a pay off! Senator Devant Maharaj
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 10:41:29 +0000
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