Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has called on Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith to produce a full report into his recently concluded trip to Tobago with ministry and Sports Company of T&T (SporTT) officials.
The request was made by Rowley yesterday, mere hours after he had returned from an overseas vacation trip on Tuesday night.
The PM intervened following public outrage over reports that Smith was part of a 12-member delegation which spent $91,910.43 for a three-night stay at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort on the weekend.
A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday said: “The Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley, has requested a full report from the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, the Honourable Darryl Smith, on the recently concluded trip to Tobago by the Minister and officials from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Although Smith had called the matter a storm in a tea cup, it continued to dominate public debate yesterday, especially in light of the fact that Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe had only recently come under fire for racking up a near $60,000 phone bill during a trip to the Bahamas.
In a telephone interview on CNC3’s Morning Brew programme yesterday morning, Smith, again in defence of himself, said he had no knowledge of the arrangements made or the cost of the trip since he was not involved in its organisation. However, he admitted the figures were accurate.
“I was only made aware of the figures in the afternoon after work when I left the office. But in checking with the PS and so on, the figures are accurate,” he said.
The contingent travelled to Tobago to attend the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) Sports Awards, which was held on Saturday at the Magdalena Grand. Nine of the officials, including Smith, were originally invited by the THA while three others, including Smith’s personal assistant Cindy Cupid, communications officer Kate Balthazar and Melissa Assam, the executive assistant to permanent secretary Natasha Barrow, were later added at Smith’s request.
Smith also responded to questions about his relationship with the three additional officials who were added to the trip, saying: “They talk about these three ladies being guests of honour, insinuating something. One of them is my personal assistant who, wherever I go on any given weekend, either my assistant or my advisor would attend with me.
“It’s not different for Tobago, so I would have requested for my assistant to go. The other two people that they are asking about, one is the permanent secretary’s assistant, which is a norm as well, and the PS and staff at the ministry would decide on communications and other people, which I don’t have any say on.”
Sources close to the matter told the T&T Guardian that Balthazar was yesterday transferred from the Sport Ministry to the office of the Prime Minister. She packed up her belongings late last evening and departed the ministry’s Elizabeth Street offices for good.
On the Morning Brew programme yesterday, Smith, a former chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation, insisted his actions were transparent and all allegations against him were merely political mischief.
“Look at the history of me as a minister and even as a chairman. Everybody knows I’m a hard worker, I’m an honest guy and I try to stay on the ground. I’m not here playing victim, I am thick-skinned, I am strong and after this I am open to any scrutiny,” he said.
“As I said, I could stand up to this. I continue to get attacked because I continue to deliver and perform. I continue to work hard with my prime minister and my cabinet colleagues, I have their support.”
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said if she were in charge someone would have been fired.
“We are experiencing and we are seeing the worst level of waste, corruption and mismanagement in the country’s history. That is exactly what is taking place under this Government,” Persad-Bissessar said during a press conference at her Charles Street, Port-of-Spain office.
She said if she were the prime minister “some heads would have definitely rolled, someone would have been fired.”
Persad-Bissessar said the Rowley-led Government had collapsed “and therefore if we have to call for the PM to fire somebody, the PM must first stop the vacationing and must now vacate. He must now fire himself.”
