Jack challenges reporters to investigate $2M flag deal

Jack Warner raised hell over the $2-million flag when he addressed supporters Thursday night and challenged journalists to investigate the real story behind the flag and why it cost that much.

The Chaguanas West MP was speaking at a Movement for Change meeting in Waterloo, central Trinidad.

Warner called Sports Minister Gary Hunt's media releases about the flag at the Hasely Crawford Stadium "lies, lies and more lies" saying Hunt sought to justify the $2 million cost in a litany of lies.

"There was no initial Cabinet approval for the purchase of this flag...The truth is, Mr. Hunt wanted a big flag to match the one in Macoya which he believed belonged to Jack Warner," he said.

He said that's the real reason why Hunt put up the flag. "It had nothing to do with national pride but envy and greed because he thought that the flag was flying from the Centre of Excellence and felt that Jack Warner must not fly a bigger national flag than he who had no flag at all."

Warner said his information from "sources from the Sports Company" indicate that when managers found out that the cost would exceed $2 million they decided to look elsewhere and turned to a company known as Prabah Sports.

Prabath, according to Warner, offered to put up the flag for TTD$800,000.00, a saving of more than $1.2 million. However the supplier wanted to be paid in US dollars. He said that's when the government pulled back, saying it could nkto find that much foreign exchange.

"Their excuse of currency shortage resulted in a counter offer for the payment to be made in Canadian Dollars but when Prabah Sports insisted that TT dollars will increase the cost, the Sports Company decided to renege on the offer.

"They could not afford to attract so much attention with such a quantum of foreign exchange. This is when Fire One (the company that made the original offer) drifted back into the picture," he said.

Warner added, "The interesting thing is there are claims about tender documents and applications from three service providers but my understanding is that the Board of the Sports Company has never met or taken a decision on this flag.

"If it has, where is the recommendation from Royal Banker Mark Singh who is the Chairman of the Tenders Committee and where are the minutes from that meeting or any meeting where the Board officially approved to engage Fire One to provide the service of providing the flag?" he asked.

"It is nothing but lies, lies and more lies," he declared. "This is the type of corruption that we must never sweep under the carpet because this national disgrace has nothing to do with national pride or national anything but graft and greed and the plundering of the State’s purse," he said.

He said if Hunt were truly interested in rewarding national pride he could have rewarded sports personalities and teams that have contributed to bringing true pride to Trinidad and Tobago.

"Yet the minister dares to set up a flag for $2 million dollars and talk about national pride," he said.

"If you want to instill national pride, why don't you get firms to sponsor large billboards of our national heroes from Ramadhin and Valentine to Crawford, Lara and Ganga all over the country?

"Why don't you get schools and other Government institutions to hoist the national flag on mornings and lower it on evenings?

"Why don't you get all schools to sing the national anthem before the start of classes each day?

"If you want to instill national pride why don't you initiate a national place of rest for our national heroes who have passed away as Jamaica has been doing for the last 40 years?" he asked.

Warner accused Hunt of hypocrisy, saying his talk of the flag instilling national is bogus especially since he has shut down community programs and starves the communities "for the little kakada to organize sports".