ITEC not impressed with minister's statement

Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC) President Devant Maharaj is not impressed with the statement and explanation given by culture minister Marlene McDonald in Parliament Friday about the controversial scholarship matter.

Maharaj told the Trinidad Express McDonald failed to address serious questions about the list which his organization got through the Freedom of Information Act.

The minister had refused to provide any information to the opposition in Parliament, saying that she had to respect the privacy of persons who got awards from the $46 million fund.

"She failed to address the fact that persons who are neither poor nor vulnerable, such as PNM Senator Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing, Jerome Lewis of i95, owned by PNM supporter Louis Lee Sing, PNM Senator Rain Lewis, all received financial assistance from the Ministry," Maharaj said.

The ministry has said the scholarships were established to help the "young, poor, needy and vulnerable."

In Parliament on Friday McDonald defiantly stood by the ministry's awards and directly addressed those who were granted scholarships.

"Stand proud! Stand tall! This Government will continue to serve you unwaveringly," McDonald declared.

Maharaj said the minister offered no explanation about why the culture ministry became involved in what was clearly a responsibility of the education ministry.

"There was an attempt to suggest this political slush fund was well-known and advertised and had a measurable criteria, but this is the furthest thing from the truth," he said, adding that she made no attempt to explain the ethnic imbalance.

An analysis of the list made shows that fewer than 2 per cent of the names on the list are of persons of Indian origin.

Maharaj demanded that Joan Yuille-Williams be fired from her post as Ambassador and called for an investigation by the auditor general. Yuille-Williams was the culture minister under whose watch the scholarship plan were developed.

Maharaj has also written to the Integrity commission about the matter.

Opposition MP and former Attorney General Ramesh L. Maharaj went further and demanded a public investigation into the scandal.

"I support the policy of the Government making monies available to help the needy for educational purposes, but what is happening here is that persons who are needy, or I should say most of the persons who are needy, are left out of the process," Maharaj told reporters.

He also expressed concerns over then fact that many people are now saying that although their names are on the list of recipients they never got any money from the government for their studies.

"I want to say that this borders on criminal conduct because you cannot have public funds being used in this way and a reckless disregard as to whether it was a slush fund or not, and I think there should be a full enquiry... A full commission of enquiry but that does not prevent also a forensic audit to see whether also criminal offences are to be committed," the Tabaquite MP said.