The opposition PPP yesterday accused government of not naming all the ministerial advisors it has employed and said that they hope the error, deliberate or otherwise, is corrected soon.
“One has to wonder if this is a deliberate omission and is this misleading the House…We find this rather strange that a number of persons were omitted,” the Party’s Chief Whip Gail Teixeira told a press conference yesterday, as she listed five persons that were not named last month.
The PPP Executive pointed to Vincent Alexander and Ruel Johnson, Advisors in the Minis-try of Education; Enrico Woolford, Advisor to the Minister of Public Telecommu-nications Cathy Hughes; Charles Ceres, Technical Advisor to the Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan; and Clayton Hall, Advisor to Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman.
During the May 24th sitting of the National Assembly, in written responses to questions by PPP/C parliamentarian Anil Nandlall, Minister of State Joseph Harmon provided the names of 33 persons who have been made honorary advisors, as well as six appointed ministerial advisors.
The call for the full disclosure of the advisors came in light of the controversy surrounding the revelation in March that contractor Brian Tiwarie had been appointed as an advisor to Harmon on business. Tiwarie’s appointment, which was made in January, had not been made public. It was revoked by President David Granger just days after being made public. Harmon had subsequently revealed that Tiwarie had been one of 34 honorary advisors.
Harmon said none of the 33 honorary advisors are paid and their “relevant qualifications include their willingness to contribute to the struggle for improved governance.”
He listed their names as Ronald Albert, Rohan Somar, Joycelyn Williams, Ewart Marshall, Lawrence ‘Larry’ London, Jennifer Dougall, Errol Lewis, Anitha Cochran, Derrick Arjune, Aubrey Duncan, Lurlene Nestor, Beryl James, Yvonne Britton, Morris Wilson, Volda Forsythe, Eileen Rayman, Edith Bynoe, Basil Blackman, Dawn Simmons, Guliana Jacobs, Eustace Hope, Gordon Winter, Artie Ricknauth, Jerome Bulkan, Hazel Binger, Donna Lindon, Desiree Horne, Ovid Morrison, Veronica Munroe, Wayne Forde, Savitri Farley, Tamesh Lilmohan and George Williams.
He also detailed the names of the six ministerial advisors, their qualifications, portfolio responsibilities, terms and conditions of their appointment and remuneration.
The paid ministerial advisors identified were Kenneth Jordan, who is Ministerial Advisor on Public Infrastructure; Ndibi Schweirs, who is Ministerial Advisor on Natural Resources; Mervyn Williams, who is Ministerial Advisor on Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs; Lance Carberry, who is Ministerial Advisor on Constitutional Reform to the Minister of State; and Cheryl Sampson, and Allan Munroe, who are Ministerial Advisors on Education. Harmon said they were selected based on their qualifications and experience.
Yesterday, Teixeira said that the names omitted were “tracked” though media reports over the past 10 months and her party has been able to verify that those persons are indeed ministerial advisors. She said they believe that there are others.
According to Teixeira, some of the named persons were present and were referred to during the 2016 Budget Debates so her party finds it negligent that government would have omitted the names.
“Therefore, we find it extraordinarily irresponsible of the government to have not provided a full and comprehensive list of the persons who were advisors to ministers,” she declared. She added that if government does not correct the list given, there are other options available such as going back to parliament with additional questions on the issue and if it is found that they were “misled,” then they would move to the Privileges Committee.
