During the weekly post Executive Council media briefing, Jack said he wanted to clear up some of the misinformation that was in the public domain. “Dr. London was engaged by the Assembly and his services were retained to treat with specific issues,” he said.
“You might recall in January, a Note was brought to the Executive Council to retain the services of Dr. London on a monthly basis. What happened previously, subsequent to that, the Note was deferred to the Division of Finance for Dr. London’s engagement on a project by project basis as a consultant. Under the guidelines of the CTB, the Administrator of the Division, under that provision where Administrators are allowed to engage consultants, the services were engaged by the Division.”
Jack said Dr. London would treat with “Milsherv and other unique projects that he was familiar with.”
“Previously the Secretary would have engaged consultants,” Jack said. “You might be more familiar with Kairi Consultants. Kairi was responsible for assisting the Assembly in putting together the Comprehensive Economic Development Plan for Tobago.”
Jack said consulting was not unique. “The previous Secretary of Finance would have engaged other consultants and during his time, there was a full-time junior consultant on staff at the Division. The utilization of the services of consultants to assist the Assembly in carrying out its function and assisting in formulating policy is nothing unique.”