Augustine: 1 out of Duke's 3 trips still unaccounted for

REPORTS have been submitted for two of the three official overseas trips by former THA deputy chief secretary Watson Duke, says Chief Secretary Farley Augustine.

This was the response given to a question posed for oral answer by Minority Leader Kelvon Morris on Thursday at the 9th sitting of the 2021-2025 session, at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex.

Augustine told the sitting: “Reports were submitted for the Miami and New York trips.”

In a follow-up question, minority councillor Petal Daniel-Benoit asked why no report was submitted for Duke's Dubai trip.

“I cannot at this time say why a report for Dubai was not submitted, and as for when that would be submitted, I think the councillor might do well to ask their new-found colleague and member on their side, as to when he would submit same,” Augustine said.

Duke said last week that having resigned as deputy chief secretary, he would be moving to the other side of the assembly when next it sits, but not on the side of the PNM.

Daniel-Benoit asked for the reports on Duke's trips to be made public, to which Augustine said: “More than making them public, I can also have them forwarded to your office as well.”

In March, Duke led a Tobago team to participate in the Dubai Expo in the United Arab Emirates.

During a session on a blueprint for smarter cities, Duke identified ten zones to modernise the village of Roxborough at the TT Business Forum and National Day event in Dubai.

In what he described as “the City of Roxborough,” Duke promoted investment possibilities for a light manufacturing and free-trade zone, civil centre, medical tourism, Kendal Agriculture Institute, boardwalk, airport and aviation and marine institute, new overwater causeway, marina, medical complex, housing and a new marina bay island.

This was only one of the questions answered before a statement was laid on the forensic audit into the road resurfacing programme under the PNM-led THA during the period October 2019-November 2021.