THA Chief Secretary: Finance Division 'party' a team-building exercise

Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Ancil Dennis has said that the video of what seems to be a party at the THA’s offices was a team-building exercise.

The video showed a large gathering of people in an office setting. Most were wearing masks but they were seated or standing close together, singing and dancing. The video, which was almost two minutes long, was labelled as being from the Finance Division of the THA.

Circulated on WhatsApp, it raised some questions about public servants obeying the health guidelines of their employers, the government.

Dennis told Newsday, “The secretary of that division has since indicated to me that there was no party, but rather a team-building session. The division will put out a release with the facts.”

In a subsequent voicenote to Newsday, Dennis expressed concern about the behaviour shown in the video, given the covid19 protocols on physical distancing.

"While it was difficult to tell if they were partying or not, clearly persons were not wearing masks, persons were too close to each other, and that is exactly the kind of thing we are asking the public not to do," he said. "It was quite unfortunate that public servants are apparently engaging in this kind of behaviour, the same behaviour that we are trying to discourage citizens generally from participating in.

"The division will respond with a public statement on this matter and the necessary action will be taken to ensure that we don't have this kind of activity taking place within the assembly."

He asked public servants, Tobagonians and citizens of TT not to follow the example seen in the video, as it would "get them into trouble."

Assemblyman Joel Jack, Deputy Chief Secretary with responsibility for Finance and the Economy, was unavailable for comment.

On November 21 at a press conference, the Prime Minister said there would be no state-sponsored Christmas parties in the public sector this year as “part of our virus control response.” He also urged the private sector to adopt the same approach and encouraged families to limit family gatherings for the season.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has also been calling on people to refrain from family gatherings over Christmas, since that was now where most of the covid19 spread was occurring.