I wish to draw reference to an article carried on Page A19 of the T&T Guardian of June 27, under the headline "Red tape holds up $$ for Legal Aid." The article, apart from being injurious to me as Permanent Secretary, is inconsistent in its reporting of the facts and has the effect of unfairly undermining a genuine attempt by the Ministry of Legal Affairs (MLA) to find a solution to a short-term issue which does not originate with our Ministry in the first place.
Firstly, the article alleges at paragraph one that staff at the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority (LAAA) "...are still in limbo as to from where their July salaries will come."However, in the same column the article quoted Mr Israel Khan, chairman of the LAAA as saying that the Authority "got the assurance that $14 million has been agreed upon but that money will come to us in the next three weeks."
Elementary school arithmetic reveals that monies will therefore be available to the LAAA in mid-July, from which salaries and other expenses of the authority will be paid. What makes this attempt at a sensational opening paragraph particularly disappointing is that the article does a reasonably fair job of detailing the circumstances that have contributed to the temporary cash-flow issue being experienced by the LAAA.
Secondly, at paragraph three, your reporter writes: "A source said the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs was unable to provide any funds but committed a payment of $800,000 from the Ministry of Justice." She quoted this unnamed source as saying that, "A PS making commitments on behalf of another Ministry is unheard of in the British Commonwealth. Top management are also claiming to be completely surprised by this turn of events but a paper trail establishes otherwise."
I wish to confirm that no Permanent Secretary has the authority to commit funds on behalf of any other ministry and to state categorically that I never committed $800,000 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. The facts are as follows:
At the time of the 2013/2014 budget presentation, the LAAA, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the Police Complaints Authority were all under the Ministry of Justice and funding for their operations was assigned to that ministry.In 2013 these authorities were placed under the MLA.Due to public service bureaucracy transfer of funds from one ministry to another is not permitted and consequently funding for these authorities remained with the Ministry of Justice.
Due to fluctuations in its expenditure requirements the LAAA exhausted its 2013/2014 budgetary allocation.As the new line ministry, the MLA approached Cabinet and got approval for additional funding in the sum of $14 million.This sum will become available in mid-July, after the Supplemental Appropriation of Expenditure Bill is approved by Parliament and proclaimed.
In the interim the MLA, as a responsible ministry committed to the efficient operation of all its departments, held discussions with the Ministry of Finance and the Economy and the Ministry of Justice to meet the financial obligations of the LAAA.Based on these discussions the Ministry of Justice committed $800,000 to meet some of the immediate expenses of the LAAA.This information was communicated to the LAAA by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
In these circumstances it is clear that the MLA has acted at all times in a responsible manner with the sole aim of ensuring the smooth and uninterrupted operation of the LAAA. This is borne out by the chairman of the LAAA, who stated, "This is just a problem with changes in the ministry. These things happen."It is difficult to see how, based on the facts related above, it could be concluded that the Permanent Secretary of the MLA "committed a payment of $800,000 from the Ministry of Justice," as your article alleges.
At no time did your reporter attempt to contact me as Permanent Secretary before publishing these damaging statements.
Editor's note:
We offer Mr Sylvester our sincere apologies for failing to contact him for comment and for the publication of the comments from the unnamed source cited.
Bernard Sylvester
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Legal Affairs