Port of Spain, August 10, 2008 -- Government is being heavily criticized for spending thousands of taxpayers money on advertisements in the media to highlight the visit of Grenada's newly elected Prime Minister ,Tillman Thomas.
Yesterday, full colour double-page promotional ads were published in
the daily newspapers, including the Express, which gave a promotional
profile on Tillman as well as facts about Grenada.
The request for placing the advertisements in the press came directly from Prime Minister Patrick Manning's office.
"These are vanity ads. I can't believe that we are paying for that ad.
That will be totally ridiculous," said political scientist Dr Selwyn
Ryan.
"If the ad is something that is being paid for by the Trinidad
Government, then it is extravagant and uncalled for," Ryan continued.
"We're happy to welcome the Prime Minister of Grenada but an ad of this
sort, given the cost, is totally uncalled for and a wasting of public
funds," Ryan added.
Tillman, since he was elected Prime Minister last month, is scheduled
to make his first official to T&T on the invitation of Manning.
Manning had promised Tillman that he would receive a royal welcome, one that he has never experienced before.
Tillman is expected to arrive in this country on Wednesday for a two-day visit.
Political observers said yesterday it was not surprising that Manning
would seek to ensure there was pomp and grandeur for Tillman's visit,
given the bad blood between the two men.
Last year, in New York, USA, Manning received a honorary doctorate from
the Medgar Evans College and in his acceptance speech, he spoke of an
attempted coup by the then Opposition, which Tillman headed, to
overthrow the former Grenada Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell three
years ago.
Manning had boasted that this coup attempt was prevented because of the "diplomatic intervention" of T&T.
An angry Thomas had publicly challenged Manning to provide evidence of any coup plot.
"The National Democratic Congress is disappointed and shocked that
Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning has chosen to make
public remarks that he single handedly thwarted a coup attempt in
Grenada three years ago," Tillman stated in the Grenadian media last
year.
Tillman added that this was not the first time that Manning made such a
statement; he had also raised the coup plot at a Caricom conference in
St Lucia prior to last year.
Political observers also noted that no full page promotional ads were
placed in the media to herald the arrival of newly elected Barbados
Prime Minister David Thompson on an official visit to this country.
Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday has said that Manning was meting out a
royal ceremony for Tillman because he, Manning, had interfered in that
country's politics.
Yesterday, Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath said the grandeur was unnecessary and that the full page ads were a waste of money.
"We have a lot more important things to do with our money like looking
after people who are homeless. In my constituency, there are people
whose homes are being broken down and these people are forced to
construct little shacks to protect their children," said Ramnath.
"We don't need to advertise the appearance of any Prime Minister coming
to this country. Clearly, the Government is in a lot of difficulty as
far as the population is concerned. People are expressing their views
about Government's non-performance and they are seeking to compensate
by having these visits highly publicised to shift attention away from
the real issues," he said.
Ramnath said he thinks Tillman will want to do what is best and build a
good relationship with this country, "but what Mr Manning's motive is,
clearly leaves one to speculate as to why our closest neigbour's visit
needs to be advertised with such extravagance".
Acting leader of the Congress of the People Prakash Ramadhar also shared this view saying:
" The Government has no regard or respect for taxpayers dollars when
there are tremendously more important things like looking after our
health care in this country, when children go hungry very night".
"We see hundreds of millions of dollars spent on advertising for this
Government. Of course we welcome the Grenadian Prime Minister but I
don't know what benefit it is to have an ad today.
"I do not see any true value in the advertising other than for the
public relations that this Government is all about and nothing about
the service of the people," he added.
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