Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah says President Anthony Carmona has lost credibility in accepting payment of a $28,000 tax-free housing allowance. The President, Abdulah said, “has set a horrible example for the citizens of T&T of-have your cake and eat it.”
Speaking a media conference at the MSJ’s San Fernando headquarters yesterday, Abdulah said the housing allowance, which was authorised by Chief Personnel Officer Stephanie Lewis, “ought never to have been paid to his Excellency.” He said the “have your cake and eat it” message is resonating all the way through society and “is going to say to the country that the standards of behaviour in public office are very low indeed and if the standards of behaviour in public office are low, what do we expect of other citizens?”
Abdulah said that such incidents “help to break down the moorings of the country.” Carmona and the CPO have come under public scrutiny over the past weeks after it was reported that Carmona, although staying in State-funded accommodations at Flagstaff Hill, St James, is receiving a $28,000 housing allowance.
Many, including former head of the Public Service Reginald Dumas, Martin Daly SC and former prime minister Basdeo Panday, said such a payment was highly inappropriate and should not have been made.
Yesterday, Abdulah agreed that a housing allowance for the President while he is being accommodated at the expense of the state is unacceptable. The MSJ leader admitted that “the President loses tremendous credibility because of this issue, as he has lost credibility as well, when other groups have written to him, including the MSJ, on major issues such as the Constitution Amendment Bill and we have not even received an acknowledgment from him.”
Daly maintains CPO wrong
While CPO Lewis is holding to her position that she did nothing wrong, Daly yesterday maintained his position that she had no legal authority to authorise the housing payment to Carmona.
Contacted on the CPO’s position highlighted in the media yesterday, Daly pointed to his Sunday column, which he said is his full take on the issue.
In his column, Daly contended that he has resisted requests to comment further on the CPO’s approval of the housing allowance. He described as “particularly worrisome” justifications attributed to Public Services head Reynold Cooper, who ascribed to the CPO “powers that, in my view, she does not have over the terms and conditions of the presidency.”
Daly, in the column, said it was important to emphasise that the office of the CPO is not established by the Constitution and it is “pitiful to describe the office as an independent constitutional body.”
He contended that the CPO’s powers are confined to dealing with the public service.
Govt claim unacceptable
Abdulah said he does not accept the Government’s position that the CPO acted alone and is an independent officer. He reminded the nation that it was the CPO, on the directive of an inter-ministerial team, who instituted a wage cap in negotiations in the public service.
He said also did not agree with the reasoning that the allowance was being paid because of the President’s present accommodations. “If he (Carmona) is being accommodated at Flagstaff with his agreement and the agreement of the Government then that is it. You cannot come now afterwards and claim a housing allowance because you now feel that it is unsuitable,” Abdulah said.
The MSJ leader said if Carmona was not pleased with the Flagstaff Hill accommodation or found that it was not suitable, then Government should have found suitable accommodation. He said there were several months between Carmona’s nomination and his elevation to office and suitable accommodation could have been sought and obtained prior to his assuming office. The President has, up to this time, not made any public comment on the matter despite the ongoing criticism from several quarters.
Rowley: Govt being dishonest on matter
People’s National Movement leader Dr Keith Rowley yesterday accused the Government of engaging in “deception” in the controversy surrounding the $28,000 housing allowance paid to President Anthony Carmona.
Addressing the PNM’s 45th annual convention at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, Rowley said the housing allowance was raised in a Public Accounts Committee meeting in the presence of the Government since last year “and the Government simply chose to look the other way.”
He contended that Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was now telling the nation that the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) “is independent and the Government is helpless. That wasn’t so with the five per cent edict and we wait to see who will guide the next Public Service negotiations. You simply can’t trust them with anything they tell you.”
In a media report yesterday, CPO Stephanie Lewis maintained she did nothing wrong when she authorised the $28,000 housing allowance for Carmona.
AG responds
But in an immediate response yesterday, Ramlogan accused Rowley of misleading the nation on the scope and ambit of the Government’s legal power over the CPO’s office. He said the President is not a civil servant and this means the terms and conditions for the office are subject to the CPO’s jurisdiction. He said this is dealt with by the Salaries Review Commission (SRC). Saying the SRC is an independent body and the CPO functions as its secretary, he said, “In so doing, she (CPO) is not performing a function that any minister has control or influence over. She functions as an independent officer of the SRC. As Dr Rowley well knows, no government has any say in the operations and deliberations of the SRC. “It is in this context and in these circumstances that I condemn the foolish suggestion made by Dr Rowley that the CPO was somehow acting under the influence of the Government. When the CPO wrote that letter, she was clearly functioning in her capacity as secretary to the SRC as the terms and conditions of the President cannot and do not otherwise concern her.”
He added that the CPO, as secretary of the SRC, also cannot make a decision on the President’s housing allowance on her own. “The SRC is the only body in law that could deal with the terms and conditions of the office of the President. It is a legal route by which the President’s allowance could have been paid. “Since the Government had no knowledge about this matter, perhaps the time has come for the chairman of the SRC, Mr Edwards Collier, to break his silence on this matter in the public interest and provide the necessary clarification regarding its role (if any) in this matter.
“His silence is causing unnecessary consternation and disquiet and has the potential to bring the office of the CPO and the President into disrepute. He therefore has a duty to clear the air on this matter.”
He also queried when the PNM raised the issue at the PAC meeting. “He failed to provide any specifics as to who raised it and when. Assuming, but not admitting that Dr Rowley's allegation is true, why did he remain silent on the matter for over a year?”