Opposition Senator Damian Lyder has questioned the funding for two Cape Class vessels purchased for the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.
During a UNC media conference yesterday, Lyder said the purchase was made without the oversight of the Public Procurement Regulator’s office and said there was no transparency in the spending of taxpayers’ money.
Lyder said the Government also had lost control of this country’s borders, allowing for the importation of guns, drugs and human trafficking.
“Our borders have become more and more porous as the years go by under this PNM administration. We have seen the entrance of illegal immigrants - we have seen the influx of drugs and narcotics, we have seen the human smuggling and the smuggling of guns and ammunition into this country,” Lyder said.
He said the Government needs to clarify whether grants were given to T&T by the Australian government for the purchase of the two new vessels, which were unveiled last week.
Speaking during the launch of the vessels on Friday, however, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said the purchase of the vessels was partly funded by a grant from the Australian government which helps countries secure their borders.
“Was a grant given to facilitate the purchase of those vessels? If so, how much of the $600 million is given in the form of a grant? Or did the Government take a loan backed by the taxpayers of our country to pay $600 million for the two vessels that we are not even sure will be properly operationalised,” Lyder asked yesterday.
He accused the Government of “mamaguying” the population with the purchase of the two vessels.
“We are not against these two vessels but the PNM with their usual mantra to create a problem and then mamaguy the population by bringing a weak solution.”
Lyder also lashed out at the National Security Ministry, saying this country’s national security arms are underfunded.
“We see a National Security apparatus that has fallen and disintegrated under the tenure of this People’s National Movement and we see the lack of resources being contributed by this Government to the protective services, namely the Coast Guard, the Regiment, the Air Guard and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,” he said.
In response, however, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, in an interview on I95 FM, said the purchases were above board.
“On the question of whether it was a grant or so, the entire arrangement is well before the national community, we announced even when we went to tour them a couple of days ago what the outcome was, the cost was and that we had savings, we came within budget and all is good and well,” Hinds said.
He said the Government has not lost control of the borders but they are aware that the borders are porous.
“They have been so for a long time, through the term of the UNC from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2010 to when the public dismissed them in 2015, we know that and we have constantly been working at improving our borders in various ways. We purchased three OPVs, they scuttled it, they should be the last persons to talk about open borders,” Hinds said.
On Lyder’s criticisms of his ministry, Hinds, who replaced Stuart Young in the ministry, said Lyder was “noisy” and does not understand how the ministry works. He said the Opposition should go to the courts if they believe the purchase of the vessels was not above board.
“That apart, I am not prepared to waste one more moment on the noisy and painfully noisy, Damian Lyder, who doesn’t impress me as anything else but ignorant in trying to understand the affairs of National Security. He should spend some time reading and listening and learning before he bumps his gum in the way that he is doing,” Hinds said.