Thursday, February 6, 2014
Hon. Asot Michael Budget Debate Contribution Feb 2014
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Hon. Asot Michael Contribution to Budget Debate 2014
The Hon. Asot Michael M.P.
Representative from St. Peter
Constituency
Contribution to Budget Debate 2014
Parliament
February 03, 2014
Thank you, Madame Speaker. I rise to make my contribution to Budget 2014 debate.
Today, I would like to examine four areas in the Budget that will negatively impact the citizens and residents of the St. Peter Constituency, and adversely affect all the good people of Antigua and Barbuda. I would like to examine:
i) The under-funding for the Electoral Commission (ABEC) in the Budget;
ii) The untenable conditions at the Mount St. John Medical Center;
iii) The burdensome debt which the UPP regime has incurred and continues to incur; and
iv) The failure to expand economic opportunities, caused by the weight of high taxes, which in turn negatively impacts foreign direct investment and job creation.
First, however, I wish to extend congratulations to the Member from St. George for her hands-on approach in managing the official funeral for Sir Adolphus Freeland, last Thursday January 30. From start to finish, the responsibilities of the Member for St. George were executed with precision. Congratulations.
Sir Adolphus Freeland was a highly regarded Member of Parliament. His role as General Secretary of the AT&LU for five years, 1971 to 1976, prepared him for his ensuing responsibilities as a Minister of Labour.
Sir George Walter was also General Secretary of the AT&LU before he became Premier or Head of Government. The Honourable Lionel Hurst Senior, before Sir George, was General Secretary of the AT&LU for 13 years, and then he became the first Minister of Labour. I note also that the Member for St. John’s Rural West was an employee of the AT&LU; he revealed on Thursday that his studies at the Coady Institute were afforded him by the AT&LU.
46 North Street was certainly a great training ground for political advancement. All of us owe a debt to the AT&LU for creating a new Antigua, a new economy, and new opportunities for achieving self-fulfillment. We should not be plotting to destroy that 75 year-old Union.
Madame Speaker: The so-called Public Sector Transformation strategy, appearing on page 46 of the Budget Statement, does not tell the whole story. The Finance Minister’s remarks only skimpily describe the process taking place. The AT&LU sees this Public Sector Transformation strategy as being no more than an attempt to deprive the AT&LU of the revenues it derives, as bargaining agent, from all Non-Established workers as dues.
By proposing a single-tier service and making every Government employee an Established Worker—as proposed by the Public Sector Transformation Unit—the AT&LU President discerns an attempt to kill the AT&LU.
The money which the AT&LU derives from the weekly and monthly dues of the Non-Established workers is a significant portion of the AT&LU’s revenues. If those revenues are diverted to the ABPSA when all government employees are classified as civil servants, the AT&LU will be killed.
Madame Speaker: I believe that Section 106(5) of the Antigua and Barbuda Constitution Order stipulates that all public officers are to be represented by the Antigua and Barbuda Civil Service Association—the ABPSA. AT&LU will therefore be cut off from its major source of revenue, if the plan is adopted. That cannot be right.
The AT&LU opposes the so-called public sector transformation for another reason. The labour experts who have studied our government service have indicated that merging both the Established and Non-Established work force is a task near-impossible. The differences in benefits and salaries are just too vast. To bridge those existing gaps is far too expensive—the horse has already bolted.
To eliminate the category of Non-Established is also to rob the Ministers of the flexibility in hiring experts and others that will be required from time-to-time. That plan ought to be stopped. In all likelihood, you won’t have the time to change the law before the elections. If you should try, the Labour Party will reverse the plan as soon as it becomes the government after March, anyway.
Madame Speaker:
Elections are not going to be won or lost on the basis of a threat to the 75 year-old union which we love. Although the Union has 7,000 members, the AT&LU like all unions, is less influential than in days past. Nevertheless, in marginal constituencies, support from the AT&LU is critical. Madame Speaker: Public Sector Transformation is a disguise that we will address frontally when the moment arrives. I prefer to move on to speaking about the planning for Elections 2014 and its management by the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission
Madame Speaker: Elections cannot be successfully held if the Electoral Commission is not properly funded. In 2009, the General Elections were not very well executed. Voting in several polling divisions began very late because of a printer malfunction. Sir Gerald Watt subsequently reported that he had to plead and to beg in order to get the money required to conduct general elections. That cannot be fair.
The Commission, weeks before the 2009 elections, purchased a printer for $17,000when a printer costing $97,000 was required. The cheap printer malfunctioned when they put it to work, and the elections were very poorly conducted.
Member from Rural West: That cannot be allowed to happen again. The Electoral Commission must be provided with all the money required to conduct elections well. The Parliament is supposed to be the guardians of our democracy. We are not hired by the people in order to diminish their democracy.
I note however that the amount budgeted for the ABEC in 2014 is $4,676,783 (on white page 87). That amount exceeds 2013 expenditure by about ($600,000) six hundred thousand dollars. Salaries and Wages of permanent staff, as seen on page 30, will total $2,829,848 dollars.
I find it very hard to believe that the ABEC will hire more than 100 additional staff, contract trainers, print 48,000 high-tech cards, buy time on radio and television and in the Newspapers, defend multiple lawsuits, and enter into all manner of contracts in 2014, an election year, and those expenses will cost only six hundred thousand dollars more than 2013, a non-election year. Something is wrong.
Nowhere in the estimates do I see a breakdown for the expenses, except for salaries and wages and allowances (on orange page 30). Help me to understand: Where are the expenses explained? How can this Honourable House be assured that the 2014 general elections will not be a repeat of the 2009 debacle?
The people of St. Peter can recall that they did not have an opportunity to vote until1:00 pm on Election Day 2009. Can I assure them that they will be able to commence exercising their franchise at 6:00 am until 6:00 pm? I want the assurance, in advance, Mr. Prime Minister. Elections must be free and fair; and, only if the money is sufficient, can that happen. Where is the June 2013 ABEC Report? Or, the December Report?
Madame Speaker: I am aware that the Boundaries case and the re-registration case are before the courts. Can we imagine the confusion if, following claims and objections, that could last up to three weeks, the Electoral Commission is compelled to move around the registered voters because boundaries change? I ask how is that to be done in time for a general election due by March 12 2014?
We are less than 40 days and 40 nights removed from the day on which general elections are due. Take 28 days out for claims and objections, and fewer than two weeks remain for changing constituency boundaries. What confusion will we witness? And, what confusion will further result when the Appeals Court rules in favour of the Labour Party in the re-registration case, as is likely to be the outcome on February 14!
The decisions taken by the Rural West representative were classic examples of procrastination, delay, lateness. Madame Speaker: He was forewarned. Accept the Report of the Boundaries Commission, start changing boundaries, and a lawsuit is sure to follow, he was warned. We have had to call in the referee.
I caution the UPP regime to desist from taking continuously those harmful decisions that will further destroy our country. We are already perceived as a place where incompetence rules. Please do not allow the 2014 elections to confirm the view that the UPP Regime cannot do anything right.
Madame Speaker: Whether the challenge is posed by holding on-time elections or managing a shrinking economy, the results appear to be the same: Failure.
I waded through the debt-reporting section of the Recurrent and Development Estimates at the very back of the publication, beginning at page 63.
(After page 406 of the Estimates, seventy separate pages are added that are paginated differently and colored orange and yellow. Please tell the typists to ensure that the lines on the left, identifying the accounts, fall on the same plane as the figures on the right. I have to engage in guess work on pages 63 and 64.)
The National Debt is broken down into two: Domestic and External.
The Domestic Debt stands at one billion, six hundred and thirty-nine point two million ($1,639.2) dollars, the statement claims.
The External Debt, we are told, stands at one billion, one hundred and ninety-two million ($1,192.0) dollars, the statement also claims.
Together, these two amounts total two billion, eight hundred and thirty-one point two($2,831.2) million dollars. This amount, we have been told, is the National Debt.
Yet, you have failed to include in an understandable manner, several other borrowings that the Government has either guaranteed, or borrowed through a statutory body, or the government owes to statutory bodies and corporations, businesses and workers.
How is the $550 million dollars owed to Social Security treated? $220 million semed to have vanished in this Budget! On page 65, item #2, an amount of $330 million dollars is acknowledged, with an interest payment of $5,953,751 to be made in 2014. Neither the smaller amount ($330 million), or the larger amount ($550 million), is included in the debt stock, however, so that the National Debt is significantly understated. Is that a trick?
How is the amount owed to Medical Benefits treated? On page 65, item #3, an amount of $125,852,116 dollars is listed as the debt. That amount is not included in the National Debt either.
Where is the amount owed to the Board of Education? What about the amount owed to State Insurance? What about the amount owed to Mount St. John Medical Center? What about the debt owed to West Indies Oil Company? The debt owed to the Antigua Power Company? The debt owed to Half Moon Bay? The debt you owe to civil servants in the form of back pay, overtime, and unpaid allowances? Where are they? What is wrong is to be made right, you said.
The APUA debts for the reverse osmosis plants are not accounted for, here; is that an APUA debt? Has it been guaranteed by the Central Government?
The Wadadli Chinese Power Plant is accounted for on page 69, item listed as 42; but, where is the original amount of the two loans totaling US$52.5 million dollars? Is the $5 million in payment of interest, as indicated, going towards that loan in 2014? Can the power plant generate that much in profits in order to meet the obligation? Plus, $8,514,553 in repayment of principal has been budgeted in 2014 (Line 42, page 69). Will that power plant generate that much even in revenue? What about the operating expenses? That plant consumes inordinate amounts of fuel (HFO/Bunker C) and diesel and lubricating oil.
Why have the reports, scheduled to be published each month, disappeared from the Newspaper since last September 2013? Why isn’t the Newspaper publishing the monthly consumption, production, and other data that usually are communicated to the public?
Why the interest payment of ($2,401,955) two million, four hundred and one thousand, nine hundred and fifty-five dollars on the first of two loans to build the air terminal at the V.C. Bird Airport? Can you tell us about that? Isn’t there a moratorium on both interest and principal? Why has the Parliament never seen this contract? Maybe that is a silly question. You have brought only one contract here. The creditor insisted that you obey the law. (I believe that to be Credit Suisse, for the airport upgrade, at Item 5 and 6 on page 70, where zeros appear).
What about the Venezuelan loan of August 2009, which is listed in item #39 on page 69 as US50 million dollars? First, when the Minister of Finance told us how he would be spending the money, it totaled US$48.5 million. What happened to the additional US$1.5 million? Where is that accounted for? The Minister made the announcement of the loan on Crusader Radio, on August 13 2009, not in Parliament. What about the agreement? Do you have any plans to bring it here to Parliament? It is noted that you plan to pay $3,873,420 in interest payments, in 2014. Can we see the loan agreement? The Prime Minister told us that he received a telephone call from Mr. Chavez at 1:00 am that August 2009 morning. Can we see the loan agreement in this parliament?
Madame Speaker: Can I bring the attention of this Honourable House to items #6 through items #17 of page 66 of the Estimates. This Parliament has yet to see the loan documents, as required by law, and yet to give its authorization to borrow on the Regional Government Securities Market, the following excessive amounts:
On June 30 2011: US$13,000,000 million= EC$35 mil
On July 27 2011: $20,000,000 million
On July 28 2011: $5,530,000
There is no listing for 2012, so there must be a mistake!
On March 28 2013: $10,000,000 million
On July 31 2013: US$13,000,000 million=EC$35 mil
On September 6 2013: $17,990,000
OnSeptember26 2013: US$5,050,000=EC$13,635,000
On October 9 2013: $20,000,000
On November 13 2013: $20,920,000
On December 5 2013: $10,000,000
On December 17 2013: $15,000,000
You borrowed from Royal Bank: $2,750,000 in 2012.
You borrowed from SAGICOR $7,500,000 in 2011
You borrowed from ScotiaBank a sum and restructured the same in the amount of $18,131,199, and in August 2013: $5,000,000 again from ScotiaBank.
In November 2009, you went to Stanford’s bank, ECAB, and reconsolidated $105,376,871 dollars in loans.
You would go to the ACB and get $3,500,000 in a demand loan. You would return again for a $58 million dollar restructured loan.
You would go to the Global bank of Commerce and contract another loan for US$1,568,204 dollars.
At the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Bank, you would get another $238,549,064 dollars. And again, another $33,000,000.
Can the Minister please explain item #12 on page 67 where you borrowed $11 million to purchase the Food City building. And further explain item #18 where you indicate purchase of a turbine in 2005 by way of a loan exceeding $10 million dollars RBTT.
Madame Speaker:
I have not listed the amounts borrowed from the Caribbean Union Bank, the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT), First Caribbean International bank, or the East Caribbean Central Bank.
This has been a tax, borrow and splurge government. Where are the assets from all these borrowings? They do not exist. The outgoing government has splurged, feted and thrown away millions of our money.
We will inherit their debts. We will inherit their mal-spending. We will face their troubled legacies. But we are ready for the challenges. We are ready to for the rescue. We have done it before, we will do it again. The end is nigh. A new beginning is around the corner. God bless the Antigua and Barbuda nation. God bless the people of St. Peter’s. We are ready! Thank you.
Representative from St. Peter
Constituency
Contribution to Budget Debate 2014
Parliament
February 03, 2014
Thank you, Madame Speaker. I rise to make my contribution to Budget 2014 debate.
Today, I would like to examine four areas in the Budget that will negatively impact the citizens and residents of the St. Peter Constituency, and adversely affect all the good people of Antigua and Barbuda. I would like to examine:
i) The under-funding for the Electoral Commission (ABEC) in the Budget;
ii) The untenable conditions at the Mount St. John Medical Center;
iii) The burdensome debt which the UPP regime has incurred and continues to incur; and
iv) The failure to expand economic opportunities, caused by the weight of high taxes, which in turn negatively impacts foreign direct investment and job creation.
First, however, I wish to extend congratulations to the Member from St. George for her hands-on approach in managing the official funeral for Sir Adolphus Freeland, last Thursday January 30. From start to finish, the responsibilities of the Member for St. George were executed with precision. Congratulations.
Sir Adolphus Freeland was a highly regarded Member of Parliament. His role as General Secretary of the AT&LU for five years, 1971 to 1976, prepared him for his ensuing responsibilities as a Minister of Labour.
Sir George Walter was also General Secretary of the AT&LU before he became Premier or Head of Government. The Honourable Lionel Hurst Senior, before Sir George, was General Secretary of the AT&LU for 13 years, and then he became the first Minister of Labour. I note also that the Member for St. John’s Rural West was an employee of the AT&LU; he revealed on Thursday that his studies at the Coady Institute were afforded him by the AT&LU.
46 North Street was certainly a great training ground for political advancement. All of us owe a debt to the AT&LU for creating a new Antigua, a new economy, and new opportunities for achieving self-fulfillment. We should not be plotting to destroy that 75 year-old Union.
Madame Speaker: The so-called Public Sector Transformation strategy, appearing on page 46 of the Budget Statement, does not tell the whole story. The Finance Minister’s remarks only skimpily describe the process taking place. The AT&LU sees this Public Sector Transformation strategy as being no more than an attempt to deprive the AT&LU of the revenues it derives, as bargaining agent, from all Non-Established workers as dues.
By proposing a single-tier service and making every Government employee an Established Worker—as proposed by the Public Sector Transformation Unit—the AT&LU President discerns an attempt to kill the AT&LU.
The money which the AT&LU derives from the weekly and monthly dues of the Non-Established workers is a significant portion of the AT&LU’s revenues. If those revenues are diverted to the ABPSA when all government employees are classified as civil servants, the AT&LU will be killed.
Madame Speaker: I believe that Section 106(5) of the Antigua and Barbuda Constitution Order stipulates that all public officers are to be represented by the Antigua and Barbuda Civil Service Association—the ABPSA. AT&LU will therefore be cut off from its major source of revenue, if the plan is adopted. That cannot be right.
The AT&LU opposes the so-called public sector transformation for another reason. The labour experts who have studied our government service have indicated that merging both the Established and Non-Established work force is a task near-impossible. The differences in benefits and salaries are just too vast. To bridge those existing gaps is far too expensive—the horse has already bolted.
To eliminate the category of Non-Established is also to rob the Ministers of the flexibility in hiring experts and others that will be required from time-to-time. That plan ought to be stopped. In all likelihood, you won’t have the time to change the law before the elections. If you should try, the Labour Party will reverse the plan as soon as it becomes the government after March, anyway.
Madame Speaker:
Elections are not going to be won or lost on the basis of a threat to the 75 year-old union which we love. Although the Union has 7,000 members, the AT&LU like all unions, is less influential than in days past. Nevertheless, in marginal constituencies, support from the AT&LU is critical. Madame Speaker: Public Sector Transformation is a disguise that we will address frontally when the moment arrives. I prefer to move on to speaking about the planning for Elections 2014 and its management by the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission
Madame Speaker: Elections cannot be successfully held if the Electoral Commission is not properly funded. In 2009, the General Elections were not very well executed. Voting in several polling divisions began very late because of a printer malfunction. Sir Gerald Watt subsequently reported that he had to plead and to beg in order to get the money required to conduct general elections. That cannot be fair.
The Commission, weeks before the 2009 elections, purchased a printer for $17,000when a printer costing $97,000 was required. The cheap printer malfunctioned when they put it to work, and the elections were very poorly conducted.
Member from Rural West: That cannot be allowed to happen again. The Electoral Commission must be provided with all the money required to conduct elections well. The Parliament is supposed to be the guardians of our democracy. We are not hired by the people in order to diminish their democracy.
I note however that the amount budgeted for the ABEC in 2014 is $4,676,783 (on white page 87). That amount exceeds 2013 expenditure by about ($600,000) six hundred thousand dollars. Salaries and Wages of permanent staff, as seen on page 30, will total $2,829,848 dollars.
I find it very hard to believe that the ABEC will hire more than 100 additional staff, contract trainers, print 48,000 high-tech cards, buy time on radio and television and in the Newspapers, defend multiple lawsuits, and enter into all manner of contracts in 2014, an election year, and those expenses will cost only six hundred thousand dollars more than 2013, a non-election year. Something is wrong.
Nowhere in the estimates do I see a breakdown for the expenses, except for salaries and wages and allowances (on orange page 30). Help me to understand: Where are the expenses explained? How can this Honourable House be assured that the 2014 general elections will not be a repeat of the 2009 debacle?
The people of St. Peter can recall that they did not have an opportunity to vote until1:00 pm on Election Day 2009. Can I assure them that they will be able to commence exercising their franchise at 6:00 am until 6:00 pm? I want the assurance, in advance, Mr. Prime Minister. Elections must be free and fair; and, only if the money is sufficient, can that happen. Where is the June 2013 ABEC Report? Or, the December Report?
Madame Speaker: I am aware that the Boundaries case and the re-registration case are before the courts. Can we imagine the confusion if, following claims and objections, that could last up to three weeks, the Electoral Commission is compelled to move around the registered voters because boundaries change? I ask how is that to be done in time for a general election due by March 12 2014?
We are less than 40 days and 40 nights removed from the day on which general elections are due. Take 28 days out for claims and objections, and fewer than two weeks remain for changing constituency boundaries. What confusion will we witness? And, what confusion will further result when the Appeals Court rules in favour of the Labour Party in the re-registration case, as is likely to be the outcome on February 14!
The decisions taken by the Rural West representative were classic examples of procrastination, delay, lateness. Madame Speaker: He was forewarned. Accept the Report of the Boundaries Commission, start changing boundaries, and a lawsuit is sure to follow, he was warned. We have had to call in the referee.
I caution the UPP regime to desist from taking continuously those harmful decisions that will further destroy our country. We are already perceived as a place where incompetence rules. Please do not allow the 2014 elections to confirm the view that the UPP Regime cannot do anything right.
Madame Speaker: Whether the challenge is posed by holding on-time elections or managing a shrinking economy, the results appear to be the same: Failure.
I waded through the debt-reporting section of the Recurrent and Development Estimates at the very back of the publication, beginning at page 63.
(After page 406 of the Estimates, seventy separate pages are added that are paginated differently and colored orange and yellow. Please tell the typists to ensure that the lines on the left, identifying the accounts, fall on the same plane as the figures on the right. I have to engage in guess work on pages 63 and 64.)
The National Debt is broken down into two: Domestic and External.
The Domestic Debt stands at one billion, six hundred and thirty-nine point two million ($1,639.2) dollars, the statement claims.
The External Debt, we are told, stands at one billion, one hundred and ninety-two million ($1,192.0) dollars, the statement also claims.
Together, these two amounts total two billion, eight hundred and thirty-one point two($2,831.2) million dollars. This amount, we have been told, is the National Debt.
Yet, you have failed to include in an understandable manner, several other borrowings that the Government has either guaranteed, or borrowed through a statutory body, or the government owes to statutory bodies and corporations, businesses and workers.
How is the $550 million dollars owed to Social Security treated? $220 million semed to have vanished in this Budget! On page 65, item #2, an amount of $330 million dollars is acknowledged, with an interest payment of $5,953,751 to be made in 2014. Neither the smaller amount ($330 million), or the larger amount ($550 million), is included in the debt stock, however, so that the National Debt is significantly understated. Is that a trick?
How is the amount owed to Medical Benefits treated? On page 65, item #3, an amount of $125,852,116 dollars is listed as the debt. That amount is not included in the National Debt either.
Where is the amount owed to the Board of Education? What about the amount owed to State Insurance? What about the amount owed to Mount St. John Medical Center? What about the debt owed to West Indies Oil Company? The debt owed to the Antigua Power Company? The debt owed to Half Moon Bay? The debt you owe to civil servants in the form of back pay, overtime, and unpaid allowances? Where are they? What is wrong is to be made right, you said.
The APUA debts for the reverse osmosis plants are not accounted for, here; is that an APUA debt? Has it been guaranteed by the Central Government?
The Wadadli Chinese Power Plant is accounted for on page 69, item listed as 42; but, where is the original amount of the two loans totaling US$52.5 million dollars? Is the $5 million in payment of interest, as indicated, going towards that loan in 2014? Can the power plant generate that much in profits in order to meet the obligation? Plus, $8,514,553 in repayment of principal has been budgeted in 2014 (Line 42, page 69). Will that power plant generate that much even in revenue? What about the operating expenses? That plant consumes inordinate amounts of fuel (HFO/Bunker C) and diesel and lubricating oil.
Why have the reports, scheduled to be published each month, disappeared from the Newspaper since last September 2013? Why isn’t the Newspaper publishing the monthly consumption, production, and other data that usually are communicated to the public?
Why the interest payment of ($2,401,955) two million, four hundred and one thousand, nine hundred and fifty-five dollars on the first of two loans to build the air terminal at the V.C. Bird Airport? Can you tell us about that? Isn’t there a moratorium on both interest and principal? Why has the Parliament never seen this contract? Maybe that is a silly question. You have brought only one contract here. The creditor insisted that you obey the law. (I believe that to be Credit Suisse, for the airport upgrade, at Item 5 and 6 on page 70, where zeros appear).
What about the Venezuelan loan of August 2009, which is listed in item #39 on page 69 as US50 million dollars? First, when the Minister of Finance told us how he would be spending the money, it totaled US$48.5 million. What happened to the additional US$1.5 million? Where is that accounted for? The Minister made the announcement of the loan on Crusader Radio, on August 13 2009, not in Parliament. What about the agreement? Do you have any plans to bring it here to Parliament? It is noted that you plan to pay $3,873,420 in interest payments, in 2014. Can we see the loan agreement? The Prime Minister told us that he received a telephone call from Mr. Chavez at 1:00 am that August 2009 morning. Can we see the loan agreement in this parliament?
Madame Speaker: Can I bring the attention of this Honourable House to items #6 through items #17 of page 66 of the Estimates. This Parliament has yet to see the loan documents, as required by law, and yet to give its authorization to borrow on the Regional Government Securities Market, the following excessive amounts:
On June 30 2011: US$13,000,000 million= EC$35 mil
On July 27 2011: $20,000,000 million
On July 28 2011: $5,530,000
There is no listing for 2012, so there must be a mistake!
On March 28 2013: $10,000,000 million
On July 31 2013: US$13,000,000 million=EC$35 mil
On September 6 2013: $17,990,000
OnSeptember26 2013: US$5,050,000=EC$13,635,000
On October 9 2013: $20,000,000
On November 13 2013: $20,920,000
On December 5 2013: $10,000,000
On December 17 2013: $15,000,000
You borrowed from Royal Bank: $2,750,000 in 2012.
You borrowed from SAGICOR $7,500,000 in 2011
You borrowed from ScotiaBank a sum and restructured the same in the amount of $18,131,199, and in August 2013: $5,000,000 again from ScotiaBank.
In November 2009, you went to Stanford’s bank, ECAB, and reconsolidated $105,376,871 dollars in loans.
You would go to the ACB and get $3,500,000 in a demand loan. You would return again for a $58 million dollar restructured loan.
You would go to the Global bank of Commerce and contract another loan for US$1,568,204 dollars.
At the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Bank, you would get another $238,549,064 dollars. And again, another $33,000,000.
Can the Minister please explain item #12 on page 67 where you borrowed $11 million to purchase the Food City building. And further explain item #18 where you indicate purchase of a turbine in 2005 by way of a loan exceeding $10 million dollars RBTT.
Madame Speaker:
I have not listed the amounts borrowed from the Caribbean Union Bank, the Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (RBTT), First Caribbean International bank, or the East Caribbean Central Bank.
This has been a tax, borrow and splurge government. Where are the assets from all these borrowings? They do not exist. The outgoing government has splurged, feted and thrown away millions of our money.
We will inherit their debts. We will inherit their mal-spending. We will face their troubled legacies. But we are ready for the challenges. We are ready to for the rescue. We have done it before, we will do it again. The end is nigh. A new beginning is around the corner. God bless the Antigua and Barbuda nation. God bless the people of St. Peter’s. We are ready! Thank you.
- Honorable Asot Michael
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Aditya Chopra to cast Vaani Kapoor in his next production
By Jigar Shah Noticed for her debut performance in the Maneesh Sharma directed, Shuddh Desi Romance, Vaani Kapoor will also be seen in the Tamil version of YRF’s own hit film Band Baaja Baarat that starred Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma. Titled Aaha Kalyanam, she will be seen with Tamil actor Nani of Eega fame. The film is slated to release this year. Meanwhile, after her debut film, Kapoor who had been deluged with offers from producers, haven’t as yet given a nod to any of the projects. Though she is bound by a contract with Yash Raj Films, the production house has not held her back to act in other projects as well. According to recent developments, an insider revealed that, “Aditya Chopra has told Vaani that he has a big film for her, but till that happens, she is free to take any project that is offered to her.”
Preeti Desai’s multi-lingual character in One By Two
Preeti Desai who was first noticed for her role in Shor In The City, is waiting for the release of her second film, One By Two in which she stars opposite Abhay Deol. However, for Preeti, who hails from London, pursuing a career in Bollywood was a little difficult because of her foreign accent. Besides, she could speak in English and her mother tongue Gujarati. In One By Two, she had to work hard on her diction with Veena Mehta (Abbas Tyrewala’s mother-in-law). “The film was shot in sync sound, so I had to get my Hindi accent right, which I did with Veena Madam’s help. However, at times, traces of Gujarati would creep in during my dialogue delivery. The entire unit would break into laughter, and I would have to do the scene all over again. I have spoken all the lines and after my director, heard me talk to my mother in Gujarati, she decided to include some Gujarati dialogue in the film. So there is 65 per cent Hindi, 10 per cent English and 15 per cent Gujarati.” The film is directed by Devika Bhagat and will release on February 7. —JS
Umesh Shukla in talks with Ranveer Singh for a film
By Ankita R Kanabar Umesh Shukla is not only busy shooting the Abhishek Bachchan starrer, All Is Well, he will begin work on the Amitabh Bachchan starrer, 102 Not Out, that shall go on the floors in August. Now, the buzz is that the OMG: Oh My God director has approached Ranveer Singh for a film. When contacted Shukla said, “No! Nothing has been finalised as of now. We are in talks, but those are only ground level talks. It’s just too early to talk about it.” The director refused to divulge details about the script, except for stating that if all goes well, he will start a film with Singh. Meanwhile, the director shall soon begin the next schedule of his Abhishek-Asin-Rishi Kapoor starrer. Singh, who is also busy with other projects like Shaad Ali’s Kil Dil, which has gone on floors some time ago, stars Parineeti Chopra, Govinda and Ali Zafar.
Homi Adajani’s next is a mature love story
After making films like Being Cyrus and the commercially successful Cocktail, director Homi Adajania is not only busy giving the finishing touches to his third film Finding Fanny, but is also working on his fourth film. Writers, Siddharth and Garima who worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Goliyon Ki Raas Leela Ram-leela, are already working on a script with which Dinesh Vijan makes his directorial debut. They have also been asked by the production house to write another script that will be directed by Adajania.
Aishwarya Rai Bachahan to make a comeback with Mani Ratnam film
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has been on a sabbatical post the birth of her daughter Aaradhya two-years-ago, is all set to make a comeback on the big scrren in a film directed by her favourite filmmaker Mani Ratnam film.
According to reports, Aishwarya Rai has given her consent to the Mani Ratnam film. There has been much speculation as to when the former beauty will make a comeback on the silver screen, who was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Guzarish’. Even though Aishwarya has not been seen in films for the past three years, she has remained in limelight via her presence in various ad campaigns and international film festivals like Cannes.
Aishwarya Rai, who is very close to Mani Ratnam, has worked with him in ‘Iruvar’, ‘Guru’ and ‘Raavan’. Aishwarya was seen with hubby Abhishek in ‘Raavan’ but eports suggest that Mani Ratnam only wants only Aishwarya Rai for this movie.
A source said: “Mani Ratnam shares a fabulous equation with Abhishek and Ash. But this time he’s planning to direct a film which has a very strong female protagonist’s character. Mani feels there is little room for Abhishek in his next.”
The source further added: “Aishwarya was very clear about her priorities after she became a mother. She gave a hundred of her time and concentration to her daughter Aaradhya for two years. Now that Aaradhya is ready for play school, Aishwarya can start thinking of seriously coming back to acting.”
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was keen to return with a film directed by either of her two favourite directors, Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Mani Ratnam.
The source added: “She was all but finalised for the item song in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Ram-Leela’. But Aishwarya wanted some changes in the lyrics which Sanjay refused. While she’s looking forward to working with sanjay Leela Bhansali, she’s all set to return with Mani Ratnam’s next project.”
The director has been kept under wraps since his last two films ‘Raavan’ and ‘Kadal’ bombed and were panned by critics as well.
AAP protest turns violent after supporters-police clash; one cop injured
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is adamant on his stand to continue ‘dharna’ outside Rail Bhawan against Delhi police even as the protest enters the second day.
2.17 pm: Fresh scuffle has been reported between Aam Aadmi Party workers and Delhi police after they were stopped from heading towards Rail Bhawan.
TV reports say, the AAP protesters were lathicharged as they were trying to break the barricades on Dr Rajendra Prasad Road. The AAP workers, reports said, threw stones at policemen, who tried to stop them. A police officer was allegedly injured during stone pelting by AAP supporters
1.55 pm: BJP activists coming towards Rail Bhawan were detained by the Delhi Police near Akashvani Bhawan. They have been sent to the Parliament Street police station.
1.45 pm: Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia reiterates their stand of not moving from the protest venue. “We are here…we are not going any where,” he says.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi CM also threatened to flood Rajpath with lakhs of supporters that can disrupt Republic Day celebrations.
With Kejriwal and his ministerial colleagues adamant on their stand, it is to seen on how the full dress rehearsals of the Republic Day take place since the venue of protest falls on the route of R-Day parade.
12.45 pm: Kejriwal appeals to the police to remove barricades. As the skies opened up this morning, Kejriwal was forced to take refuge in his. However, the Delhi Chief Minister remained adamant as he said: “Halaat dekh ke bhagwan bhi ro raha hai, mausam kitna hi bigde hum nahi hatenge.”
12.10 pm: Commuters were hit hard with authorities shutting down four Metro stations and buses being diverted. Four Metro stations — Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhavan and Race Course — remained closed from 6 AM.
9. 45 am: Rains played spoilsport for the protesting Chief Minister as he had to sit in his car following the showers on Tuesday morning. As it rained, an umbrella has been made of ‘tirpal’ for those sitting at the protest venue. Kejriwal and his colleague Manish Sisodia have been forced to take refuge in his small blue car.
9.40 am: Arvind Kejriwal has yet again been requested to shift the venue of protest to Jantar Mantar in view of the Republic Day rehearsals.
9.35 am: Kejriwal rules out any negotiations to scale down the protest, saying the safety of women in the capital is not a matter of negotiation. “We will continue our protest. How can Home Minister (Sushilkumar) Shinde sleep when so many crimes are happening in Delhi? When women are unsafe in the city? We won’t negotiate,” Kejriwal says.
9.25 am: Kejriwal refuses to change the venue of protest and reiterates that Shinde is no one to tell him where to sit. “Who is Shinde to decide where we will protest? I am the CM of Delhi,” he tells reporters.
The Delhi CM also asks Shinde not to shut the metros. “The whole area has been cordoned off, tiolets in the buildings are closed. The protest venue has been transformed into a jail,” says Kejriwal as he appeals the people to Delhi to join him in large number.
9. 00 am: Chief Minister’s wife reach the protest venue to meet him.
7.30 am: Early morning slogans among the protesters: “Shinde hosh mein aao, Arvind tum sangharsh karo desh tumhare saath hai… Desh ka PM kaisa ho, Arvind jaisa ho… Takht badal do taaj badal do beimano ka raaj badal do.“
Sunanda Pushkar's death caused by drug poisoning: Doctors
NEW DELHI: The forensic report of Sunanda Pushkar has revealed that her death was caused by drug poisoning. Doctors say that this means that Sunanda did not die because of an inadvertent drug overdose but by deliberate administration of drugs aimed to end life. Whether this was suicidal or homicidal, the doctors are unable to say, adding that was for the police to establish.
Sources at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the post-mortem was conducted on Saturday, said the forensic findings have been submitted in a sealed envelope to the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) who is holding the inquest proceedings under the provisions of the Criminal Procedural Code.
The forensic report gives a new turn to the investigations into the death. Police officials said the report will now require them to review all the video footages of the hotel lobby and check who all went to her room, including the hotel staff.
Alok Sharma, the SDM who is holding the inquest proceedings, refused to disclose the details of the report. He said he would examine it along with the statements of various people, including that of Tharoor and Sunanda's brother as well as other evidence. "I cannot say anything about the report," said Sharma, who was at AIIMS on Monday.
"The toxicology report of the sample of the viscera - internal organs of the body, for example, heart liver and intestines - has revealed that death has been caused due to poisoning. Whether Sunanda took the poison herself to commit suicide or somebody poisoned her to death is a matter of police investigation," said a source. He refused to disclose any details about the nature of the poison.
The source, who is conversant with the findings, ruled out any possibility of accidental death due to overdose of prescription medicines - a possibility suggested by some doctors since Sunanda was on anti-depressants and several other medicines.
Sunanda Pushkar, wife of union of Minister Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in suite 345 of Leela hotel on Friday evening. Her body was reportedly found by Tharoor at around 8 pm when he returned to the hotel after attending a meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
The post-mortem report showed that Sunanda's death occurred at around 4-7 pm and by the time her body reached AIIMS - at around 2 am on Saturday - it had turned completely stiff. A medical board of forensic experts from AIIMS conducted the post-mortem, which was filmed and photographed. The post-mortem report states there were physical injuries in 'certain body parts'.
As for the injuries on her body, a doctor had said, "In medico-legal cases, the number of injuries does not matter. Whether the injuries are related with fatality or not, is what matters. So, before giving a medical opinion we need corroborate it with circumstantial evidence."
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