Des Vignes defends PNM over zipline

PNM Mason Hall/Moriah/Providence candidate Kwesi Des Vignes says no THA politician has ever been accused of corruption during the party’s 20-year reign in the assembly.

During a Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) political meeting, last week Sunday in Scarborough, the party’s deputy political leader Farley Augustine produced a copy of a management letter from the Auditor General's Department to the THA for the period ended September 2016.

The letter, he said, highlighted financial discrepancies in several aspects of the THA’s operations, including its planned purchase of a zipline for the Main Ridge Forest Reserve.

He said PNM Tobago Council political leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine had questions to answer in relation to the zipline project, which is yet to come to fruition.

Davidson-Celestine was secretary of tourism and transportation at the time the THA decided to buy the zipline in 2015. The Tobago Council leader, who is contesting the Lambeau/Signal Hill seat, has denied any wrongdoing in the project.

But speaking at a PNM meeting on Thursday night at the Redemption Sound Setters pan theatre, Montgomery Junction, Bethel, ahead of the January 25 THA election, Des Vignes defended Davidson-Celestine.

He said the secretary’s role involves policy development and overall direction and control.

“We eh have no money in we back pocket anywhere. So don’t let anybody fool yuh and talk about any corruption,” Des Vignes told supporters.