00:00 A newspaper report on Tuesday indicated Secretary Trevor James chartered a private aircraft
00:07 to return from Martinique on Sunday as Tropical Storm Tammy neared that island.
00:13 However, when interviewed by reporters on Tuesday, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine
00:18 indicated he only knew of the return of Secretary James to Tobago via chartered flight when
00:24 Secretary James phoned him on Monday afternoon.
00:28 On Thursday, Infrastructure Secretary Trevor James sought to clear the air on the matter
00:33 in an attempt to erase any misunderstanding.
00:37 Secretary James indicated that the Executive Council of the THA was informed of him making
00:43 arrangements to return to Tobago initially via text.
00:48 At no time in his explanation was there a revelation on cost of the charter, the naming
00:54 of those who offered assistance and who bore the cost.
00:58 We were advised that the next flight available out of St. Martin, Dutch side, which we would
01:07 travel from back to Trinidad, would be on Tuesday of this week.
01:15 I informed the entire Executive Council by text of this on Friday.
01:23 Secretary James said he contacted his network for assistance.
01:28 Subsequently to that, I reached out to my network, which is as wide and as deep as can
01:36 be because, because as Secretary of the THA was in Martinique where his credit card allocation
01:49 for foreign exchange had been exceeded and I could not pay for an extra night or to buy
02:00 a ticket to any other location.
02:03 This because Mr. Inbert and Mr. Rowley prefers to give hundreds of millions of foreign exchange
02:15 to a few people in the country and ordinary citizens, even like myself, that represent
02:22 the people, have to travel, have to travel without sufficient funds on credit cards.
02:32 Secretary James said a light aircraft then became available.
02:36 I reached out to my network of friends and family and I was informed that there might
02:45 be an opportunity for us to travel from Martinique back to Trinidad and Tobago by light plane.
02:53 This became available because there was a charter from Trinidad to Dominica on Sunday
03:03 morning and that charter was going to refuel in Martinique on Sunday morning, which allowed
03:12 us to be able to take that plane back to Trinidad.
03:17 He said it was no easy task in returning to Tobago.
03:21 We hustled from the hotel to the airport in order to make that flight.
03:29 The communication systems in Martinique, of course you'd understand, was crashed and therefore
03:37 I could not reach out.
03:40 I'm only reaching out on WhatsApp to members of the Executive Council.
03:44 We took that flight and we requested that we be dropped off in Tobago.
03:50 The flight was going to land, terminate in Trinidad and we came to Tobago and I must
03:55 say that I am thankful that I took the responsibility for my safety and the safety of the member
04:04 of staff that traveled with me to get to Tobago safely and not be stranded in Martinique without
04:10 access to credit card facilities in the middle of a storm.
04:15 James sought to debunk any notion of illegality in the process.
04:21 There is a suggestion that somehow the plane was an illegal plane, that somehow we are
04:31 able to contact immigration and customs and maybe wring their hands so we could land and
04:36 enter and get a passport stamp.
04:39 All of that is misinformation and mischief.
04:44 When I subsequently returned on Monday, I informed the Chief Secretary by message and
04:53 by telephone call that I had made a private arrangement to return to Tobago at no cost
05:01 to the THA.
05:02 Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
05:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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