Trinidad & Tobago Ministers Rack Up Big Bills—and Social Media Outrage · Global Voices
A meme by <PERSON> about tourism minister <PERSON>'s exorbitant roaming bill, widely shared on Facebook.
With oil prices down, Trinidad and Tobago's energy-based economy has had to adjust. These are lean times; foreign exchange is less available and the government is trying to make up the country's revenue shortfall any way it can.
Imagine the public's consternation, then, when news broke that two government ministers in particular — <PERSON>, the minister of tourism, and <PERSON>, the minister of sport and youth affairs — have not been adhering to the same belt-tightening rules.
<PERSON> stunned netizens when it was revealed that she ran up a TT $59,000 phone bill (approximately US $8,740) over the course of four days. She later explained that only $1,100 of the billed amount represented phone calls — the balance consisted of roaming fees and value-added tax (VAT) at a time when she was in the Bahamas for a tourism-related event.
In a press release, <PERSON> said, “At the time of the trip, the Ministry was dealing with several issues which required my attention and therefore necessitated that I remain accessible. During this period, as is common while travelling on official government business, my mobile telephone was placed on roaming. However, at every reasonable opportunity, I also made use of the Wi-Fi facility where it was available.”
She claims she too was surprised by the high bill and asked the ministry to “launch an immediate investigation” into the charges. The cell service provider, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), has said that it had no control over the roaming charges imposed by regional and international carriers.
Netizens were not too quick to buy <PERSON>'s declarations of fiscal responsibility, however. The hashtag #callmeanytimeyouwant soon started to make an appearance and she soon started being referred to on social media as the “Minister of Roaming”.
On Twitter, <PERSON> was truly incredulous as to how this could have happened:
I breaking this down into byte size pieces. $50k in data. Not calls. Over 4 days. 957
On a phone. In a hotel with wifi.#callmeanytimeyouwant
— <PERSON> (@rhodabharath) May 16, 2017
On Facebook, she further dissected <PERSON>'s defense:
Where things get interesting is the cost of data charges in the Bahamas and what they actually mean in downloaded/used data.
When the math is done, the exorbitant rate indicates that the Minister used roughly 800 mb of data. That is average data use over a 4-day period for many persons. And what it actually reveals is that $59,000.00 in data charges wasn't racked up from intense use of the phone to remain “accessible”, but from casual data consumption at extremely high rates.
Which then begs the question, how often is the state shouldering $60,000 bills for casual consumption of roaming data overseas by Ministers and Ministry officials? […]
Abuse of the public purse is nothing to defend or scoff at!
Many social media users were of the opinion that <PERSON> should pay back the roaming charges. <PERSON> lamented:
She has to pay us back because nobody is ever taken to task or made to account & there will be absolutely no justice with this scandal. […]
Its time to get a voice people & stop the nonsense in this place. Call them all out! Demand our hard earned tax dollars are spent wisely!
Pay up HONORABLE Minister <PERSON>, & frankly, while you paying up, resign too. Now that would really set an example.
Over at biting news site Wired868, <PERSON> had a few questions, including how many bills of this size have taxpayers unwittingly paid, and whether there is a mechanism by which the public can access this information — perhaps through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Naturally, some folks took a humourous approach to the situation. <PERSON> quipped:
Roam wasn't billed in a day
<PERSON>, referring to the popular pre-paid cellular phone plans in which customers can “top up” their credit at any time, enjoyed a play on words:
I need a top-up, but ah shamfa ask fa it.
The memes soon followed, and were widely shared on Facebook:
“When you make a long distance call to the afterlife so you can complain to <PERSON> about <PERSON>.. and now you're under investigation.” Meme, widely shared on Facebook. 142