THA Minority Leader accuses Burris of bringing Office of Clerk into disrepute

THA MINORITY LEADER Kelvon Morris has accused Secretary of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Tashia Burris of bringing the Office of the Clerk of the Assembly into disrepute.

The issue relates to the private promoter involved in the $9.3 million Tobago Rhythm & Soul Festival in April.

During a news conference at the Minority Leader’s office in Scarborough on January 27, Morris denied Burris’s claim that she had sent information to the clerk of the assembly revealing the name of the private promoter involved in the inaugural festival.

The briefing came after a release from the division earlier that day which chastised a media house for claiming Burris had failed to disclose the identity of the promoter at the plenary sitting on January 23 of the Assembly Legislature.

Minority councillor Petal Daniel-Benoit had posed the question to Burris at the sitting.

The division’s release said, “The article claimed that the tourism secretary failed to disclose the identity of the private promoter involved in the upcoming festival. This is categorically false.

“While the order paper question did not specifically request details about the promoter, the secretary committed in providing the information to the Minority councillor and delivered on this promise within the hour via her office.

“The information was submitted to the Clerk of the House for onward transmission to the Minority as per standard Assembly legislative procedure.”

But Morris said, “Fellow Tobagonians, yuh hear lie? That piece of information is a big lie. As I speak to you here now as minority leader, we are still waiting on receipt of a response from the secretary, and we did all our checks with the office of the clerk, and up to this point in time and up to the point in time of us holding this press conference, the clerk flatly denied receiving any communication that treated with any response from the secretary.”