Opposition wants Hylton sacked
THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party has accused special ambassador Anthony Hylton of misrepresenting the contents of a liquid natural gas (LNG) agreement with the Government of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) and has called on the administration to sack him.
Opposition member Ernest Smith gave notice at yesterday’s sitting of the House, that he will move to have Hylton removed from his post. He charged that the energy policy advisor had incorrectly given the impression that the Trinidadian Government had offered to sell Jamaica LNG at concessionary rates.
Smith contended, in his motion, that Trinidadian prime minister, Patrick Manning has denied that the twin-island state offered to sell natural gas to Jamaica at concessionary rates. This, he said, totally contradicted statements made by Hylton at a February 20 press conference at Jamaica House. Smith added that Hylton’s decision to stand by his statements, in the face of Manning’s comments, gave the impression that the Trinidadian prime minister was “not speaking the truth” and could damage Jamaica’s relationship with its Caricom partner.
“This honourable House calls on the prime minister to immediately remove Mr Hylton from the post of special ambassador and energy policy advisor and instruct the minister of mining and energy to take immediate steps to open discussions with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago with a view to restoring the good relations and economic co-operation Jamaica has always enjoyed with that country,” Smith said.
However, Port of Spain’s envoy here, Dennis Francis, insisted last night that Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago enjoyed good relations.
Jamaica is moving towards increased use of LNG by 2005/2006 and last year entered into negotiations with Trinidad and Tobago to procure the product which is considered more efficient and clean than petroleum. Hylton has long complained that Trinidad’s stance, of offering LNG to local manufacturers at cheaper rates than that which it offers to its Caricom partners, is contrary to the tenets of the Caricom Single Market and Economy. And he has pushed for T&T to either increase the price to its local manufacturers or drop the price to Caricom member states, for whom it had initially offered a 30 per cent discount in discussions last year.
At the time Hylton suggested that even the proposed 30 per cent cut would be too little.
Hylton could not be reached for comment on Smith’s call for his sacking last night. But according to information contained in a communiqué from the last Caricom Summit, where the LNG issue was discussed, the conference in fact received “a statement prepared by Trinidad and Tobago to sell natural gas to Caricom importers on the same basis as to the Trinidad and Tobago users”.
The conference also received:
* a report from the Trinidadian Government on the structure and state of the entire energy industry, both petroleum and gas based, as well as T&T’s pricing policy;
* statements from other Caricom states on the effects of having to pay higher LNG prices than those offered to Trinidadian manufacturers.
They also recalled the principle of national treatment underpinning the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
It was also agreed that a task force would be established, comprised of Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad to develop recommendations for a regional energy policy which would address:
* security of energy supplies;
* energy pricing policy and the impact on relative competitiveness in the Caricom single market and economy; and
* purchasing and transporting arrangements.
In addition, the task force was mandated to provide its report in time for consideration at the next Caricom meeting in July.
Yesterday, the opposition’s charge that the relationship between Jamaica and T&T may have been damaged, was shot down by both sides.
“In respect of Trinidad & Tobago’s relations with Jamaica, we have had and continue to have excellent relations with Jamaica,” said Francis, T&T’s high commissioner, when asked if Hylton’s statements had damaged the relationship between the two Caribbean countries.
And state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign trade, Delano Franklyn, dismissed Smith’s suggestion that the Government needed to take immediate steps to patch up the relationship between the two countries.
“There have been no ripples in the relations between our countries. Jamaica still enjoys excellent relations with T&T and our minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade has been meeting with his T&T counterpart and there is no indication from any quarter of any strain in our relationship,” Franklyn told the Observer.