Minority Leader asks Deputy Chief Sec to clear air on staff salaries

THA Minority Leader Kelvon Morris has alleged that several employees in the Office of the Deputy Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly are being paid exorbitant salaries, even though he says not much work is being done in the office.

He is calling on Dr Faith BYisrael to say whether the people listed on an undated document, titled Office of the Deputy Chief Secretary Staff Listing – List of Political Staff and their Salaries, are employed in her office.

In a video on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Morris read from the document, which, he claims, outlines the salaries for eight positions: senior technical adviser; technical adviser; director, energy bureau; director, diaspora relations; director, foreign direct investment; office support co-ordinator; and project manager. There were two technical advisers.

According to the document, the senior technical adviser receives a basic monthly salary of $30,000, plus perks.

“I want the Deputy Chief Secretary to deny whether a salary of a base of $30,000, whether there is or there was a position called senior technical adviser in the Office of the Deputy Chief Secretary.

“There is even a travelling (allowance) of $2,500, and they are receiving a phone allowance of $500.

"That is a total of $33,000 being paid to a position called senior technical adviser to the Deputy Chief Secretary.”

Morris posted the document on his Facebook page, but removed the names of the holders of the posts.

He said he has seen “absolutely nothing of meaning, no real achievement, no tangible achievement coming out of the Office of the Deputy Chief Secretary to warrant the levels of salaries we are seeing some people are earning in that division.

“If that is not a waste of resources...I don’t what is.”

Morris raised the issue as he noted that about 2,000 workers in the Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development had not been paid for the past two fortnights.

On the salaries allegedly being paid to staff in the Deputy Chief Secretary’s office, he said what is even more disturbing is that the Farley Augustine-led THA has been telling Tobagonians the budget allocations they got over the years from central government were inadequate to fund Tobago’s development.

“But if you are saying that the money that you have is not enough, then how come you are finding ways and means and finding money to pay these kinds of large salaries to these people...? What is it that these people are providing that warrants them getting this kind of salary?”

He recalled the office rented a building in Trinidad for over $2 million and “not one soul entered that building.

“So we know that no work is being done.”

BYisrael, who is also the Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, did not respond to calls or messages to her cellphone.