Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London says a no-nonsense approach should be taken to dealing with procurement and corruption issues in the Assembly.
Speaking yesterday during his final budget debate as head of the THA, before his retirement later this year, London said a procurement system had been put in place and it was now being operationalised.
He said the system was operated by people and the success would be dependent on the total buy-in to the philosophy and whether the people were prepared to work the system. He said Tobagonians should realise there was a price to pay when the wrong thing was done
"How many of us, in our doings and in our normal everyday life, know the wrong thing has happened, recognised it has happened and do nothing to prevent it, and nothing to ensure that those who are guilty of corruption get their just reward?" he asked
"I am saying except we in the Tobago House of Assembly and we in Tobago adopt a no nonsense, no forgiveness approach towards corruption and corrupt people, regardless of what kind of procurement system we have, it will not achieve the desired objectives."
Commenting on the various responses to the $5.3 billion budget presented by Secretary for Finance and Enterprise Development Joel Jack on Tuesday, London said the contents of the presentation should be put into perspective. He said the budget should be viewed in the context of the developmental journey in Tobago over the last 16 years under his administration.
"Too many times, as we look at our development, we focus only on the present and on the future, we don't look back at where we came from, we don't look back at the progress we have made, we don't look back at the hurdles we have overcome, we don't look back at the sacrifices that all of us would have made and we don't celebrate the victories," he said.
"We spend so much time, as we should, looking at what we did not do, as well as we would like, but we do not spend enough time celebrating, and I'm saying to the people of Tobago, Madam Presiding Officer, and I'm saying to this House, as we look back we are confident Tobago can say there is much to celebrate."
The budget debate concluded at 8 pm with participation by all members in the House. The budget was passed and will be sent to Cabinet for approval.