PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, May 26 2017 – Sport Minister Darryl Smith has submitted his report on a $92,000 four-day Tobago trip to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
“We await the Prime Minister’s perusal and decisions with respect to any such report,” Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Stuart Young, said at yesterday’s post-Cabinet news conference.
The Prime Minister had requested a “full report” from Smith on Wednesday, following public outrage over the expenditure and the size of the delegation that accompanied Smith (12) to the Tobago House of Assembly’s sports awards ceremony. The report was submitted yesterday.
It is not known whether the Prime Minister will act (if at all) on the Smith report before his departure for Chile on Sunday morning.
Young said there was no discussion on the matter by the Cabinet.
In response to a question, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said there are guidelines for the expenditure of public funds and the purposes for which public funds can be used and Permanent Secretaries are required to adhere to them.
He said these guidelines are contained in circulars issued by the Minister of Finance.
“Each ministry has an accounting officer and every accounting officer would have guidelines within which they should operate,” he said.
Young said Rowley “constantly tells his ministers” to make sure the proper guidelines for the expenditure of public funds are followed.
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