John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
DENBIGH, Clarendon:
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson has lashed out at recent revelations of him racking up more than $21 million in travelling expenses in four years, claiming his visits were geared toward brokering international agreements to benefit the Jamaican people.
In addressing the large gathering at the 53rd annual Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show at the Denbigh showground in May Pen, Clarendon, yesterday, the Prime Minister attempted to explain his travel expenses by remarking that "we are an independent country and we have to negotiate with other independent countries and I can't do it from Kingston."
SOLIDARITY
According to the Prime Minister: "If I have to go to Geneva, that's where I must go; if I have to go to Washington, that's where I must go; if I have to make solidarity with the Group of 77 and China ... that is what I shall do until I make way."
A report carried in The Sunday Gleaner this week revealed that Mr. Patterson spent more than $21 million in four years while staying in pricey New York hotels. The amount includes thousands of U.S. dollars in entertainment money, fuel costs for travelling on a private aircraft, personal butlers, assistants and advisers.
UNAPOLOGETIC
Travel agents have described fees paid for hotel accommodation by Mr. Patterson as "hardly the average hotel stay". Figures obtained under the Access to Information Act showed that Mr. Patterson shelled out US$1,500 per night plus gratuity of 12.5 per cent for five nights at an upscale New York hotel in 2002. At the end of his stay, the Prime Minister spent a total of US$8,437 or just over $420,000 over the five nights. This did not include the sum paid for putting up the entourage that travelled with the Prime Minister.
But Mr. Patterson was unapologetic, asserting that "nothing they write or nothing they say is going to cause me to go one day earlier than I plan to go, or stay for one day longer than I plan to stay. There is work to be done and as long as I am the captain of this ship, I want to sail Jamaica into safe waters."
