Smith, OAS reports yet to be made public

NEARLY three months after announcing a committee to “thoroughly review” a claim of wrongful dismissal against the Sport Ministry by a former assistant to its now-sacked ex-minister Darryl Smith, the government is still nowhere near to releasing the report into the incident.

Communications Minister Stuart Young said while Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had received the report on June 4, he had been advised to allow the people named by the committee to respond before it was released. “Then we’ll see where it goes,” Young said, adding that it would be premature otherwise.

Rowley had announced the committee, chaired by former permanent secretary and human resources expert Jackie Wilson, on April 10, the same day he fired Smith. Smith has been under increased scrutiny since Newsday reported on March 25 that $150,000 was paid by the ministry to Smith’s former personal assistant Carrie-Ann Moreau to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit. It is alleged that Moreau’s firing came after she complained of sexual harassment by Smith.

Another report, compiled by former ambassador Christopher Thomas into a chain of events at the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, that ultimately led to TT voting against an Organisation of the American States (OAS) resolution in March to waive Dominica’s membership fees for two years, has also been completed. Dominica had asked for the waiver as it recovered from the effects of Hurricane Maria last September. TT, which had been a staunch supporter of the country’s rebuilding, inexplicably voted against the resolution, allegedly because of a mix up.