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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