UNC questions PNM’s silence on $60,000 salary

The United National Congress (UNC) has criticised the People’s National Movement (PNM) for remaining silent on reports that Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London had hired his cousin Anselm London as a consultant and was paying him $60,000 a month, a salary it said was higher than the Prime Minister’s.

In a media statement yesterday the UNC questioned Opposition Leader Keith Rowley’s silence and the silence of the PNM on the issue, describing the lack of a response from the party as wrong and unethical.

It added: “The UNC sees this as an abuse of the resources of the THA and the taxpayers. “What is even more disturbing is that Orville London is more concerned about who leaked this information than the fact that he and his colleagues at the THA have decided to pay $60,000 a month to London’s cousin without batting an eyelid of concern over what is clearly nepotism and corruption.”

The statement described the situation as “a sign of what is to come in the PNM-dominated THA.” The UNC called on the THA and London to rescind the decision to hire London’s cousin and also called on Rowley to show the same enthusiasm in criticising the PP administration and denounce London’s example of “nepotism and cronyism.” Yesterday PNM public relations officer Faris Al-Rawi advised the UNC to get its facts together. 

He said no decision had been made on the proposal up to yesterday. He added: “A proposal is in front of the THA and it is up to the THA to consider whether it will happen or not. One cannot criticise something that has not happened yet.” He said the People’s Partnership had a penchant for getting it wrong in Tobago and hoped they would have learnt after their 12-nil defeat.