Gov’t has no letter reacting to search of T&T minister — Reid
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator Ruel Reid said Wednesday, that the Government is unaware of any letter from Trinidad and Tobago, complaining about a reported search one of its ministers at the international airport in Kingston.
Senator Reid made the disclosure in response to a question from the media attending the regular post cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.“Let me make it very clear, I checked with the minister up to the time of this press briefing. We had heard through the media that there had been a letter of complaint sent to Minister (of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade) Kamina Johnson Smith and, as far as she was aware, all the sources that she has checked at her ministry, including her own access to information, there has been no letter received by her, or the Government of Jamaica, from any official or the government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,” Senator Reid said.He added that Senator Johnson Smith, who is off the island, has also been in touch with the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago trying to get a copy of the letter, herself.Regional news agency CMC had reported Tuesday that Trinidad’s Minister of Foreign and Caricom (Caribbean Community) Affairs Dennis Moses, had informed the Parliament that he had written Johnson Smith, complaining in a “forceful manner” about a search reportedly carried out on Trinidad’s cabinet minister Ayanna Webster-Roy, as she boarded a flight in Jamaica last week.CMC reported that Moses told the upper house that he ‘personally consulted’ with a number of the members of the delegation that travelled to Jamaica to participate in a regional parliamentary forum and the high commissioners, to get “as much factual information (as) possible”, CMC reported.“I, in a very forceful manner, made known to the minister of foreign affairs of Jamaica our complaints, and I countered in a robust fashion whatever counterarguments would have been presented,” Moses was quoted as saying.“I also consulted and made known to the High Commissioner of Jamaica, based here in Port of Spain, the nature of our complaint, and I followed it up by writing to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, in a rather pointed fashion, our concerns,” Moses reportedly told the Parliament.Balford Henry