THA COMMITTED TO PAY FISHERFOLK

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The Tobago House of Assembly says it  remains committed to paying the outstanding two million dollars to Tobago's fisherfolk, following the February 7th oil spill disaster in 2024.  This from Finance Secretary Petal-Ann Roberts as she spoke on Wednesday on a Tobago morning show. More in this Elizabeth Williams report.

Transcript

00:00I want to say that we are committed to paying the financial assistance. I cannot

00:10give, I don't do the payment. We are now in process of shifting the resources to

00:15the Division of Food Security and at the same time shifting the resources to pay

00:20the balance for service providers at the Office of the Chief Secretary. We have

00:25not left out the Fisher Folk. I must say with a level of assurance that they

00:33will be paid the two million dollars. The Finance Secretary Petaland Roberts

00:38made it clear the monies were paid to the Old Tobago Fisher Folk Association

00:42President Curtis Douglas. What disappointed me was Mr. Douglas because Mr.

00:47Douglas understood from day one and I was also disappointed because we paid Mr.

00:53Douglas although he was in the space saying that he was not paid. We paid him

00:57in two tranches. He got 1.1 million dollars then he got 1.9 million dollars.

01:03We still have outstanding sums which are currently under the due diligence

01:08process of the accounting process. She said delays in paying the outstanding

01:12compensation to Fisher Folk fall squarely on the shoulders of central

01:16government. She pointed out that some THA projects were shelved to facilitate

01:21paying Fisher Folk. The waiting is really two things. One, as Secretary of Finance I

01:27can tell you I do not receive funding in accordance with the law. I've said that

01:31time and time again. The law says in the THA Act that we should receive all

01:36releases from Trinidad quarterly. So every quarter or block in advance. So at

01:42the beginning of the quarter should receive all the monies for the three

01:45months and that does not happen right because the government has indicated

01:49that they don't have the resources to do that. The comments by the Finance

01:53Secretary Peterland Roberts follow Monday's media briefing by the All

01:57Tobago Fisher Folk Association calling for their outstanding compensation from

02:01the THA. Elizabeth Williams TV6 News

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