Dr. Victor Wheeler
INDEPENDENT Tobago Senator Dr. Victor Wheeler has weighed in on the raging debate about the presence of Minority Leader Ashworth Jack at a meeting called by Transport Minister Devant Maharaj to discuss plans to open the ANR Robinson International Airport on a 24-hour basis.
Secretary of Transportation Oswald Williams, who was invited to be part of the discussions with airline and airport authority officials, had boycotted the meeting.
Williams objected to Jack’s presence, charging that it was “insulting” to the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) as the Minority Leader was not a member of the executive arm of the administration in the island.
In his contribution to the debate in the Senate on the Finance Supplementation and Variation of Appropriation Bill 2012 for the Financial Year 2011 last week Monday, Wheeler expressed his gratitude for the 24-hour plan. The plan would allow additional flights leaving as late as 1.00 a.m. from Trinidad.
“I am actually pleased with this because it will mean that I will be able to get home on a Tuesday rather than having to stay here overnight. I am quite thankful for that,” declared Wheeler.
He went on to chide People’s National Movement (PNM) Tobago Senator Shamfa Cudjoe, who in her contribution had argued that the THA had been disrespected by the Transport Minister. “I am not certain that those being invited can actually dictate who is to be present at that meeting,” noted Wheeler.
“There have been episodes of disrespect to the THA by the Ministry in the past, but the THA has to be careful how far it takes this because I was a little bit concerned that the Minister would be addressing a matter as important as this and the executive council would choose to exclude itself from these discussions. I hope that this will not be to the detriment to the airport in Tobago,” he said.
Referring to the Ministry of Finance ability to move money from one Ministry to another to address needs in various departments, Wheeler pointed out that this process involved coming to the house to report. “I am not aware that this takes place in the THA,” he observed.
“I have said in my budget contribution that I was a little bit concerned that the THA had requested three point something billion dollars and only got two point something billion and over the years they have still been able to accrue unspent balances.
“Today we heard that the Ministry of Finance has not allocated any money for CEPEP for the THA. Yet if there is a complaint about the Ministry of Finance not financing or providing funds for a budgeted item, I have seen where budgeted items under the THA for example the TRHA for 2011 was allocated $202 million dollars by the Ministry of Finance but the THA only provided $157 million in funding for TRHA,” disclosed Wheeler.
“This is at a time when the TRHA owed its creditors millions of dollars that had resulted in some of the services to the hospital being reduced,” he added.
“I am labouring this point today because in 2012 we expect the hospital to be delivered in Tobago. This is a hospital that the Tobago public has been waiting for over 30 to 40 years. We expect the hospital to be completed and fully equipped and fully staffed.
“I am aware that for you to have a fully functional hospital the agency responsible for the functioning of the hospital would be the TRHA. I hope that in this financial year 2012, the THA will provide the TRHA with all of its allocated funding of $280 million dollars,” said Wheeler.
