Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has called for Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine to be taken before parliament’s Privileges Committee for allegedly giving inaccurate information during the last session on former Petrotrin executive chairman Malcolm Jones’ basic salary.
House Speaker Wade Mark said he would rule on the matter at the next sitting since he hadn’t yet had time to consider it.
During yesterday’s sitting of the House, Rowley said Ramnarine gave inaccurate and therefore misleading information on the matter. He said Ramnarine had said Petrotrin’s current chief financial officer Ronald Huff’s package, with a basic salary of $147,000 salary plus other perks, was less than Jones’ base salary, which Ramnarine said was $162,000 plus “other things.”
Rowley said Ramnarine ought to have known Jones’ salary was $125,000, which was contrary to what he stated, and should have known the figure he gave the Parliament was inaccurate.
Noting Mark’s recent warnings to MPs not to abuse parliamentary freedom of speech, Rowley contended that Ramnarine was in contempt of Parliament, as he had read from a prepared statement which showed willful intent and was “wantonly reckless” in giving information to the House.
$4.2m on Happiness ads
In replying to Rowley’s questions on the National Gas Company (NGC), Ramnarine detailed sums NGC spent on public relations, advertising and community relations from 2010 to 2015.
He gave budgeted figures which ranged from $29.9 million in 2010 to $199 million in 2015. He also gave the actual sums spent, which ranged from $21.7 million in 2010 to $131 million in 2014. He said the sums for 2015 were not yet available.
Ramnarine explained that NGC’s profits had increased significantly from 2010 to 2014 and the company’s policy was that one to three per cent of its profits before tax be devoted to promoting its brand.
As such, he said, sums had been spent on this objective, including sponsoring the Red Force cricket team and other activities. He said the expenditure on branding carried a $200 million cap.
He said surveys had shown that NGC had been low profile, whereas companies like bpTT spent funds to promote their brand.
He also explained that the NGC’s “HaPPiness” campaign, which Rowley asked him about, cost a total of $4.25 million. He said recipients of the money were Ross Advertising and daily newspapers, radio and TV houses. Ramnarine said the campaign was linked to the United Nations’ Global Index on Happiness survey and that T&T ranked 35 out of 156.
He said the spelling of “HaPPiness” was an artistic expression and is seen in several other similar presentations globally.