88
« on: March 16, 2008, 08:25:35 AM »
Warner: Jet just to satisfy Manning's ego
Ria Taitt Political Editor
Sunday, March 16th 2008
Trinidad and Tobago has been duped once again into spending money to satisfy Prime Minister Patrick Manning's ego.
This is the view of United National Congress Deputy Political Leader Jack Warner on the issue of the proposed purchase of an executive private jet by the Government, via State-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL).
Warner said neither the Prime Minister of Canada, the Prime Minister of England nor the leader of France, all major powers, has a private jet.
Warner, a Federation of International Football Associations jefe, who has occasionally had the privilege of travelling via executive jet, stressed that he was not against governments having private jets available to help them undertake their public functions. "But," he said, "such jets must be judged against one very important criterion-does it provide value for money to the taxpayer?
"The purchase of this jet by Patrick Manning fails this test spectacularly," Warner contended.
Noting that at a purchase cost of $450 million for the jet, which works out to an expenditure in capital cost of $90 million annually for the next five years, Warner said this compared very badly with the annual travel costs of Ministers, which was approximately $2 million.
This $90 million figure does not include the projected annual costs for the purchase of 600 block hours by the Government. Based on figures provided by CAL chairman Arthur Lok Jack, Government is guaranteeing payment to CAL for 600 block hours a year at a rate of between US$13,000 to US$15,000 per hour, which works out to between US$8 million and US$9million (TT$50 million a year).
"This is one hell of a cost for an ego trip for the Prime Minister," Warner noted in commenting for the first time on the planned acquisition of the jet. He has been out of the country on trips to Egypt and Switzerland in the last few weeks.
Asked what would happen if two Ministers had competing demands on the jet at the same time, Warner commented: "Would Patrick Manning buy another jet? How long would it be before Manning asks for a personal private jet for every Cabinet member? Maybe with his/her own personal flight path-a priority plane route perhaps?"
The Chaguanas MP added: "Manning would do well to remember that while his ego is swanning around on an executive jet, it is the Trinidad and Tobago taxpayer who is footing the bill. The same taxpayer is in fear of his/her life from rampant crime, has a lowly paid job, has no running water or electricity, no beds in the hospitals and is experiencing traffic congestion daily."
Warner advised that the money used to buy the jet would be much better spent on "catching murderers, building roads, providing better homes, more jobs, giving electricity and running water to every home, providing hospital beds and lowering food prices".
Warner has submitted a number of parliamentary questions on the jet for the Minister of Finance Karen Teshiera and the Prime Minister to answer. The Chaguanas MP is asking for actual expenditure on Government travel over the last four years, the cost of 600 hours to the Government and whether the executive jet would be used by public servants for official travel.
He also wants to know on what date was the issue of the purchase of the jet considered by the Cabinet and whether a feasibility study was presented to the Cabinet upon which it based its decision. He wants to know on what date the US$63 million was advanced to Caribbean Airlines.
He is also asking for the revenue and expenditure of CAL in its first year of operation, what were the projections and what income was earned by Government during CAL's first year of operation, and how many foreign companies and foreign individuals were now employed by CAL and at what contracted costs.
Show Posts