Name the beneficiaries of first class travel at state expense

Nov 10, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It does not take much these days to cause the President of Guyana to lose his composure. A Kaieteur News reporter simply asked for a one-on-one interview with the President and instead of a simple yes or no to this request, the President got into a fit and accused this newspaper and its columnists of all manner of things.

It is sad to see a Head of State in this situation. But this is nothing new with our President. Not so long ago, a reporter was at one of the President’s press conference and asked him about the torture allegations which at the time were being leveled against the military. The President lost his composure and questioned if that is what the reporter was going to ask him.

Well had Kaieteur News got its one-on-one, there were a lot of other things that would have been asked. One of those things concerns the question of overseas first class travel for family members of certain ministers of the government.

This columnist had just a few columns ago simply indicated that there were reports that the relatives of certain Ministers had enjoyed first class travel, and this column queried whether there had been a change in policy. The Ministry of Finance got into a fit of anger and instead of dealing professionally with this matter accused this columnist, by implication, of misrepresentation.

Ironically, the very Ministry of Finance conceded that on occasions, the relatives of Ministers had been allowed to travel at State expense, but that this was approved by Cabinet. Well since it has been confirmed that there have been occasional instances where taxpayers have had to pay for the spouses of certain Ministers to accompany them on their overseas visits, it needs to be clarified as to who were the Ministers involved and what was the purpose of their visit that would justify their partners being allowed to travel first class. Name the beneficiaries of this first class travel.

If the President is invited to a State visit in another country, one would expect that as part of the entourage, the President would be accompanied at the expense of the State, by his wife. However, this does not apply to Ministers of the government and therefore the Ministry of Finance needs to explain to this nation what were the specific occasions when a family member of members of a minister were allowed to travel first class and the specific grounds on which Cabinet approved of such travel.

The Ministry of Finance is not disputing that on occasions family members of certain ministers have been provided with first class tickets to travel overseas. It has confirmed this but has not stated the circumstances under which this travel took place.

The fact that Cabinet approved of such travel does not mean that it is legitimate since even Cabinet has been known to grant non-objection to the award of a contract within the health sector which was not consistent with the regulations laid down in the Procurement Act.

We must also recall that this country was told that it was Cabinet that considered the investment proposal submitted for the use of the Sanata Complex and that the President quite ethically recused himself from influencing this decision.

But onto this day, it is still not clear for how much the complex was leased, and whether indeed there is an option for the investor to buy after a number of years.

We must also recall that tax holidays were initially granted in breach of the law which had to be then made right. So there should not be the assumption that because Cabinet approved of something that it is necessarily perfectly in order.

This column has never suggested that the President’s individual trips are extravagant. In fact this column went to great lengths to suggest that it was Mr. Burnham who travelled with large delegations.

However, the President seems to be travelling regularly. In fact in recent times almost every other week. Thus, when these trips are aggregated they would accumulate a great deal of travel miles. It is therefore perfectly in order for questions to be raised as to just how much all the trips are collectively costing the taxpayers.

This column has no doubt that a great deal of good comes of these official trips. However, the public would be better able to weigh whether we are getting increased value of money as result of these trips, if we knew just how much they have been costing the treasury.

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Name the beneficiaries of first class travel at state expense

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