And according to Senator Peyrefitte, he doesn't understand why the Government is refusing to provide the answers he is asking for. He insists that when Prime Minister Briceno was in Opposition, he asked a similar question to his predecessor, Dean Barrow, and received a straight answer for it:
Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - UDP Senator
It has been asked before in the House, you know, I think that Johnny Briceño. When we restructured, he had asked how much Hallmark had gotten, or how much the people have gotten. He had asked that very same question in the House. So how can you ask that question in the House, expect an answer — which was, I think, given to him by Prime Minister Barrow and in turn around now, and say, ‘Well, you can ask me that because of some competitiveness, that competitiveness or some secrecy or some foolishness like that' How can you hide behind that when you look at the Freedom of Information Act, the reasons he's giving that's not one of the concerns. That's not one of the concerns at all. This is not a matter of national security. This is not a matter of revealing state secrets. This is not a state secret. This is telling us what you did with the people's money and how much you spent on whom, with the people's money. And I think there's even — I can't really recall the name of the case I will research the case, because Daniel, we will go to court if you have them, and they know that I don't bluff. So, there is a Caribbean case where a lawyer was paid by the government of Trinidad — I think — and then, they didn't want to reveal how much they paid the person. They went to court, and the court said that's no state secret. Say how much you paid the man. That's not something that -what's the harm? If you're saying that we got such a good deal, and if you're seeing that this thing was so brilliant by what you did, you will be gladly providing the information to show what a good deal you got. Why don't you want to give us a breakdown? What are you hiding? What are you not telling us? Just give the information, man. And that's all I am saying. So today, they have not satisfied me with the answers they have been giving. Why can't they just give a straight answer?
