1 THA person doing 3 jobs

Speaking at a media briefing at the front of the Victor E Bruce Complex in Scarborough which houses the Division, Phillips pointed to Moody’s downgrade of the THA to B++3 in April this year and the 2017 draft estimate of the budget as presented by Jack. “In June 2016, my dear Secretary of Finance and Enterprise Development published on the THA’s website a draft of the 2017 budget, the draft of that budget was in the sum of $5.3 billion.

“The THA has never received anything close to $3 billion from the central government in any budget, so, when one looks at the increase from the normal $3billion to $5.3 billion, one has to question the competency of the Secretary. Clearly, he doesn’t understand the implications of that Moody downgrade. Had he understood the implications, his draft budget would have been somewhere in the vicinity of $2.5 - $2.2 billion,” Phillips said.

He also questioned the holding of three different portfolios by a person employed in the THA.

There is someone in there doing three jobs, Phillips alleged. He claimed that person was an advisor, who is also chairman of an enterprise company under the THA. “This advisor and chairman is also an independent auditor.

This auditor, who is chairman and advisor, is performing audits in the public space, auditing the enterprise companies under the THA. That is a clear breach of his independence,” said Phillips.

Phillips called for all companies in the THA that has been audited by this specific auditor to be revisited. “I am calling on the Minister of Finance, as Corporation Sole in the country, to investigate and bring some closure to this situation because clearly, he (the person doing three jobs in the THA) is not independent and he should not be auditing these companies,” he said.

Contacted for a comment on Phillips’ claims, Finance Secretary Joel Jack said he would respond via a press release.

Up to press time, no release had been sent by the Secretary. Phillips also told reporters that the problem in Tobago was not a lack of money. “In Tobago, we have a lack of digression from financial responsibilities, the paradigms need to be changes.

We have to change the way we do budgets. We can no longer depend on an annual budget if Tobago is to go forward.

The Central Government must have an insight into the programmes that we want to institute over a long run, preferably three years,” he explained.

Phillips said he returned to Tobago from the United States in 2013 and since then, has been monitoring Tobago’s finances and prior to that, he monitored the island’s finances from the United States.

“I spoke to the Chief Secretary (Orville London) about ten years ago with regards the issues surrounding the auditor general’s inability to complete the audit of the THA and to date nothing has been done, we need to fix that,” he said.