TT $5.3M for private jets for Manning

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has racked up a hefty miulti-million dollar travel bill since 2007 for its top officials with the bulk of it going to pay for private jets for Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira made the disclosure in a written statement to Parliament, which showed that between January 2007 and March 31, 2009, Manning made 32 overseas trips of which 18 were on leased private jets.

Those trips alone cost approximately $4.1 million and the cost of his travels on commercial airlines was $1.2 million.

The most expensive trip was a shuttle visit to several Caribbean Community countries to hold discussions on his plan for political integration with Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines in August 2008.

That trip alone cost $792,593.24. Another expensive private jet travel was in preparation for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which cost $754,859.57 for the private jet.

Ssome other travel costs:

• Lenny Saith to Qatar ($128,000), India ($129,000), Singapore $178,000), Dubai ($121,000)
• Conrad Enill to Uganda ($173,000), London ($165,000) and Spain ($135,000)
• Tina Gronlund-Nunez to Nairobi ($118,000)
• Alicia Hospedales to New Zealand ($112,000)
• Joseph Ross to Germany ($115,000) and Malaysia ($102,000)
• Kenneth Valley to India and Korea ($175,000)
• Gary Hunt to Sri Lanka ($106,000)