Rowley wants to know who paid for cultural contingent on London trip

Keith Rowley wants to know who are the business people who paid for Trinidad and Tobago's cultural contingent travelling with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on her trip to London for Commonwealth Week celebrations.

The opposition leader made the comments following a forum of his People's National Movement (PNM) in Port of Spain. "It is only if there is transparency that one could know whether that willingness on the part of the business persons, whoever they are, is not just self-serving.

"I also want to know how were they sourced. Were other business persons given the opportunity to contribute? Who made the call and how was it made? How were these business persons selected to fund a group going as part of the national prime ministerial team?" Rowley asked.

The office of the Prime Minister has stated that the private sector has funded the cultural contingent, which includes Denyse Plummer, the HD crew of Machel Montano, Patrice Roberts, Kernel Roberts, Timel Rivas, Pranava Maharaj and technical support personnel. However it did not identify any business organisation.

The delegation also includes a 16-member self-funding business team representing manufacturing, construction, banking, entertainment and hotel sectors, as well as the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce.

Rowley said he has no problem with the business community contributing to national development. However, he asked for transparency.

"How do I know that it is not people who are investing in the Government, looking for favours in return? Is that fair to other business persons?"

He said the Prime Minister and Government have not acted properly. "Because this group is going with the imprimatur of the Prime Minister as part of our national team, going to an important function like that to do what they say, then it can't be that under the table. Someone pick some company here or there. There must be transparency across the board," he told the Trinidad Express.

"If you are going to carry the label of envoy of Trinidad and Tobago, the fact that somebody is going to pay your way makes it even worse. I served in a Cabinet and one of the instructions we had was that nobody pays for a PNM Minister to go and do work for the people of Trinidad and Tobago," he said.