Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner has confirmed that Caribbean Airlines (CAL) paid $2.2 million to wetlease a replacement Boeing 737 to facilitate a charter by the Government of one CAL's aircraft to Brazil."Yes we paid $2.2 million, but the aircraft did not come to Trinidad and sit here. What about the income it generated? What about the reduction in expenditure that has come about from not travelling on a commercial jet? What about the time saved?" Warner said in a statement yesterday.
Warner's statement appears to be at odds with a statement issued by CAL on Thursday. The airline said it only paid US$182,000 (TT$1.17 million) for the wetlease to cover its regularly scheduled operations."It should also be noted that the revenue protected by wet-leasing is estimated to be in excess of US$250,000," according to the airline.On Thursday, the T&T Guardian reported exclusively that CAL was scheduled to pay US$350,000 (approximately TT$2.2 million) for the wetlease, while CAL charged the Goverment US$85,000 for the round-trip charter of a 154-seater Boeing 737 aircraft to attend the World Economic Forum in Brazil.
The Government has described its decision to charter the CAL aircraft to transport a 40-plus contingent as "economical" and "financially prudent."Warner said: "The facts will show that this is nothing more than a distraction on the part of the Government's critics who are clearly both incompetent and unable to offer any kind of analysis that can be trusted to be objective and fair. It also shows a weakness in understanding the current patterns of global behaviour by world leaders."
He did not address a letter written by Finance Minister Winston Dookeran to Persad-Bissessar stating that the CAL board be re-constituted as the "commercial stakes are high and the cost of political inaction will be high as well."Warner's own Permanant Secretary, Cheryl Blackman, had called for the board to be dissolved in a Cabinet note.A senior Goverment source told the T&T Guardian the Government was misled by CAL as to the actual cost of the charter and the wet-lease.
Instead, Warner defended the Prime Minister's travelling agenda, Warner called on critics and naysayers to "leave her alone and together we will rise."He compared her itinerary to those of other world leaders as well as to former Prime Minister Patrick Manning."This sudden outcry which no doubt is politically motivated, comes from a group of blind loyalists who are bent on securing cheap political mileage to keep their names constantly in the public domain," he claimed.In dismissing the "folly of their arguments" Warner said, "proves that neither they, nor the party they represent understand what is required to be a national leader in this global age, for a panoramic view of world leaders will show that an even greater pattern of travel has to be undertaken if Trinidad and Tobago is to etch its name in the global village."
Warner pointed out that Manning travelled 14 times in 2005, 13 times in 2006, 13 times in 2007, 15 times in 2008, 11 times in 2009, and twice in 2010."These critics ought to be more honest because you cannot conveniently choose to condemn the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar when the ex-Prime Minister, the Honourable Patrick Manning, travelled at a more frequent rate than our current Prime Minister," Warner said.Checks of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar's busy travel schedule indicate she has made 12 trips in her 11 months in office. (See box)
Further, Warner explained that the leasing of an aircraft is not unique to Persad-Bissessar. "In 2005 alone, the ex-Prime Minister the Honourable Patrick Manning leased aircrafts three times to travel to Jamaica, once each to Venezuela, Panama and Barbados but our Prime Minister leases once and leases from our own airline which has not resulted in capital flight and yet the critics seem to forget the antics of their master," he said.