‘THA RECEIVED ALL $$ PROMISED’

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary of Finance/Planning, Dr Anselm London, said yesterday that the Assembly, working in close collaboration with the central Government, has been able to mobilise resources of over $1.8 billion for the island during the current (2003/2004) financial year. He made the boast as he presented the Assembly’s 2004/2005 Budget proposal of just under $2 billion at yesterday’s special sitting of the THA. At the same time, Dr London claimed that the Assembly actually received all the monies that were allocated to the THA by Parliament over the last three years, and assured that “every cent of these resources was used to help the people of Tobago, without favour to any special interests and without personal gain to any member of this administration.

“I invite anyone who thinks, says, or knows otherwise, to come forward with incontrovertible evidence or shut up once and for all and forever hold his peace,” Dr London declared. He said it was important that these facts be brought to the attention of the House and to the general public, “because of the deliberately mischievous and misleading remarks often made by certain well-known people. But the clock is ticking,” he warned, “and by the grace of God we shall, in a few short months, put an end to their current misery and deliver them to the place already prepared for them in the political graveyard of Trinidad and Tobago.” Minority Leader Hochoy Charles is expected to lead off debate on the Budget proposals when the House reconvenes on Thursday.