THA minority leader calls for audit of school repairs

THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris is calling for an audit into the July/August school repair programme.

He has also renewed his call for the resignation of the THA Secretary of Education, Research and Technology.

Morris was speaking during Tuesday’s Minority Report on Tobago Updates.

“I am calling for an audit into this school repair programme, and in fact let the findings be public, so we all can appreciate what was the true cause as to keep our children home.”

Further to Monday’s "rest and reflect" action by the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), the THA Education Division said Scarborough Secondary would remain closed.

Speyside Secondary, which closed Monday owing to infrastructural issues, reopened on Tuesday, but classes at the Scarborough Secondary will be suspended for another week, reopening on September 12.

Morris said: “I take no joy (in this), because I have relatives and we’re all Tobagonians, we all want to see our students having...quality education from day one. we had two of our main secondary schools unable to open – it had nothing to do with public officers, and it had nothing to do with Kelvon Morris or the TTUTA representative. But because we had a breakdown in the procurement process to the point that two weeks before school, we are now putting a system in place to try to scramble contractors from all over the place. This administration must account for that kind of pinnacle.”

He said that cannot be accepted.

“We want a thorough independent audit that Tobagonians, we all can be satisfied as to what transpired.”

He was severely critical of the "general demeanour" and competence of the secretary, Zorisha Hackett, saying. "Perhaps the Chief Secretary, as I had advised him in Easter, should consider asking her for her resignation, because this is the second opportunity she would have had to deliver our schools on time, and she failed.”

He had some words of advice for Hackett.

“It’s never personal. No hard feelings at all, my dear. This is about Tobago, this is about Tobago’s children, and this is where my first priority lies: it lies with the interest of the people. We are making Tobago and Tobago people our priority.

"All we’re asking you to do – do your work, do your work, and once you do it well, it’s going to be love in the house. If you don’t do it well, we’re going to be calling you out. So (sic) it’s never personal at all.”

Minority councillor Petal Daniel-Benoit said the issue was quite unfortunate, and that more schools than the two named had infrastructural issues.

“July/ August did not creep up on us. We know that a July/August would come in 2023. Schools were closed, and apart from that, this administration, through the secretary and the assistant secretary, would have clearly outlined that schools were closed for a duration of two years, so the work that needed to be done was great.

“They take responsibility for when things go well. So when it goes well, it is the administration; when it’s problems, it is somebody else – the public servants.”