00:00Prime Minister Kamala Pissad-Bissessa says it is imperative that her government cut costs,
00:07and so she has directed her attention to her ministers.
00:13And I have directed my own ministers, do ask for no state-funded housing, please.
00:20Don't.
00:20The country is not so large that you need to have a house in port that's being paid for by taxpayers.
00:31There are people who don't even have a house.
00:33You want to have two, you want a house on one in town?
00:35No.
00:36Some might vex with me, but I will stick firmly to that.
00:39And I'll tell you why.
00:41Ministers have a housing allowance paid for by the state.
00:47If you want a house in town, go and pay your own rent.
00:50You all agree?
00:51Pay your rent.
00:52Why must the taxpayer pay your rent when they can't pay their own rent?
00:56They don't even have a place to stay.
00:57That should not continue to happen.
00:59We have to cut costs.
01:02So state-funded housing, you want a house, pay for a house.
01:07Agreed?
01:08Let's pay for it.
01:09And they all agreed today.
01:11Maybe they didn't like what I said, but they agreed, and I'll keep them to it.
01:16Our country is not that big.
01:18You can drive.
01:19She also addressed the issue of where she'll be based.
01:23I want to assure you, I will be working out of facilities in Port of Spain.
01:30I'll be working out of facilities in Central Trinidad, because we do have, for my last way in government, we established a cabinet room in Central.
01:40It was then the Ministry of Education, it is now Ministry of Agriculture, there is a cabinet room there.
01:48I will be working out of South Trinidad, because we had also established a cabinet room upstairs of the teaching hospital.
01:56I've asked the Minister of Health to find out for me what is the condition of that.
02:00But I'm told the one at Central is still in good order.
02:03And I will be operating out of Tobago.
02:06I'm told there's a beautiful facility in the island of Tobago.
02:10We will also work out of Tobago.
02:12And most definitely, I will work out of my own home.
02:17I do not receive a housing allowance, so I do not have to pay myself to use my own home.
02:24So, let me rest your brain on that, because some people feel like getting money to use my own home, no.
02:29So, we have North, we have Central, we have South, we have Tobago, and there may be others.
02:36So, we'll use the facilities, so there are two things about that.
02:39Whichever one is more convenient or necessary at any given point in time, we'll choose that one, okay?
02:47The other point will be, there's some things that may be more conducive in North, South Central, Tobago.
02:54But it's also sharing our governance with a wide cross-section of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.
03:04So, it is not that we are, you know, I say people like a cloistered virtue and we come into Port of Spain.
03:10No, no, no.
03:12The country does not begin and end at the lighthouse.
03:14Yes, we'll cross the lighthouse and come up here, but there are other parts of the country we need to service.
03:23And when we do go into those areas, we'll be meeting, we can meet, when we use the facilities in these various parts of the islands,
Be the first to comment