Warner says jet is waste of money to satisfy Manning's ego

Jack Warner says Trinidad and Tobago has been duped into spending money to satisfy the ego of Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

The Deputy Political Leader of the United National Congress made the comment in reference to the proposed purchase of US$63 million executive jet by the government.

The government is buying a plane from the Canadian aerospace giant Bombardier through the state-owned Caribbean Airlines (CAL).

Warner noted that there is no need for Manning to have a private jet at his disposal, noting that the Canadian Prime Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom and the president of France don't fly on private jets.

Warner told the Trinidad Express he has no objection to a head of government using a private jet for travel but strongly believes that "such jets must be judged against one very important criterion: does it provide value for money to the taxpayer?"

He said the government fails this test "spectacularly" in the purchase of the jet. Warner said if you apply the cost of buying the aircraft against travel needs for the government, it works out to be about $90 million a year for travel for government officials, including the prime minister.

And that figure doesn't include the annual projected block purchase of 600 hours that the government has guaranteed to CAL, which works out to be about $50 million a year.

Warner could not believe that a responsible government would make such financial commitment when in actual terms the annual cost for travel for the same people who would be using the jet amounts to $2 million.

The reality is that government is overspending more than $140 million a year, without a clear justification for it.

Warner also wondered if Manning would buy another jet if travel demands create conflict for use of the plane.

"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?" he told the paper."

He said, "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."

He suggested the money would be 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 more than a dozen parliamentary questions on the jet for the Minister of Finance Karen Teshiera and the Prime Minister to answer. He is asking for:

• The actual expenditure on Government travel over the last four years
• The cost of 600 hours to the Government
• Whether the executive jet would be used by public servants for official travel
• When did the Cabinet considered the purchase of the jet
• Whether Cabinet received a feasibility study to guide the decision-making process
• A time line for the government's handover of the US$63 million to CAL to buy the plane
• CAL's operating expenditure and revenues for 2007 (CAL began service on January 1, 2007, as the successor airline to BWIA)
• How many foreigners work for the airline.