Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young says a State enterprise and facilities for a valet employed to supervise the “sartorial image” of the former Minister of Tobago Development, Dr Delmond Baker, are among the assets of the former ministry to be disposed.
Speaking during yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Young said the discovery was made during an investigation into the former ministry by Dr John Prince and Ethel Hector-Berkely. The report was dated February 2016.
Young, who is also Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, said the investigators found that the Tobago Development Ministry and a State enterprise, called the Human Capital Development Facilitation Company Limited, was set up to secure support for the United National Congress on the island, especially after it failed to win any seat in the 2013 Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections.
He said the ministry and the company were set up to suppress the People’s National Movement-controlled THA.
According to Young, the report will be reviewed by the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs to determine if there were any breaches of fiduciary duties, as well as criminal and other further civil actions to be taken against those who may have broken the law.
Young said the report showed the former Tobago Development Ministry attempted to implement some 11 major projects and programmes, adding that most of them fell short in obtaining projected outcomes and were ill conceived.
He said there was also evidence of poor financial management and duplication of the responsibilities of the THA. He said the report recommended “the discontinuance of seven projects and the transfer of four for consideration by the THA for completion.”
The report also showed that “one of the largest expenditure items of the former ministry was contract employment. Approximately 194 contract positions were created and filled over the five-year period.”
He said the report also showed the former ministry’s asset base included 13 refrigerators, 13 television sets, a substantial number of unused computers, a fully outfitted gymnasium, and facilities for a valet, employed to superintend the sartorial image of the former Minister of Tobago Development, Dr Baker.
“So they had built a valet for the sartorial image and to improve the image of Dr Baker,” Young added. He said the findings were “disturbing” and said permanent staff in the former ministry and State enterprise would be redeployed in the public service while contract employment would be terminated according to the law.
Young said the winding up would be undertaken by Corporation Sole.
Baker hits back
Former Minister of Tobago Development Dr Delmond Baker said yesterday that the decision by the PNM Government to disband the ministry and shut down the State enterprise attached to it was a dreadful and wicked act against the poor people of Tobago.
Speaking in a telephone interview after Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young’s announcements, Baker said the company and minister was set up with the authority of the then Cabinet and dismissed claims that anything was being done to undermine the THA.
Baker said he was not surprised by Young’s announcements, as the PNM had promised to shut down the ministry and the company during the September 7 general election campaign. He said the Government did not appear to have considered the effects of firing close to 200 workers and trainees, adding this was in addition to the earlier dismissal of about 100 employees from the ministry.
Baker said he had a copy of the Cabinet approval for the company “and documentation indicating that we went through all the legal requirements in the creation of the HCDFCL and the functions of the (former) ministry so as to not encroach on any of the functions of the THA.”
He said he was awaiting the report of the investigators, adding he was “not privy to any of the issues raised; there were no questions sent to me, I was not asked to respond to any matter raised in that report.”
He insisted he had all the approvals from the Cabinet.