Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Hinds scoffs at PM Kamla's latest trip to US, says there are more pressing matters at home

Opposition Senator Fitzgerald Hinds is not impressed with the travel schedule of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Speaking at a news conference Monday he was critical of the Persad-Bissessar's latest trip, which includes a meeting on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 

On Monday night, the Prime Minister joined four other female world leaders at Carnegie Hall in New York to be honoured by Glamour Magazine.

Hinds scoffed at that, saying Persad-Bissessar's decision to "saunter off on yet another trip" overseas, is a bad idea when there are pressing matters at home which require urgent attention.

"We are yet to be persuaded that the reasons offered by our Prime Minister to leave Trinidad and Tobago, I think for the sixth or seventh time, are really justified in circumstances where we need her presence to resolve crime issues, the economy issues and regional issues, arising out of the impact of her "reckless statements" on humanitarian aid in the wake of the devastation brought on by Tropical Storm turned Hurricane, Tomas," Hinds said.

The Prime Minister has been on five overseas trips since taking office: Jamaica for the CARICOM summit, New York to meet nationals and business leaders, New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, London to chair a commonwealth economic conference and the current trip, to meet with top U.S. officials.

Hinds said his research on Glamour magazine showed that "it is not one of greatest repute...I am almost embarrassed to get into the details of what that magazine represents internationally and yet our Prime Minister feels rather proud to be associated with it."

Past honourees of Glamour's Women of the Year include notable international political figures such as Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and the current first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

"She rides again. They all know her in the country as the karaoke Prime Minister: She sings wherever she goes. And she is now trying to outdo Calypso Rio as the travelling man", Hinds stated.

According to official government records presented in Parliament former Prime Minister Patrick Manning made 32 overseas trips in the 27-month period beginning January 2007, 18 of them on 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 - $792,593.24) was his shuttle visit to several Caribbean Community countries to to try to sell his plan for political integration with Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines in August 2008. Manning was snubbed by Jamaica and Belize.

Read the story: TT$5.3M for private jets for Manning

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai