Trinidad and Tobago is not ’running a party here’ to play host and pay for large delegations coming for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in November, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne said yesterday.

’The country is only responsible for the head of State and only two or three people after that. Nothing more,’ he said, as he responded to statements made by Opposition Senator Wade Mark, who brought a motion on the adjournment in the Senate yesterday.

Browne said under the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the arrangement was that Trinidad and Tobago was responsible for paying the bills of the heads of State and four others, amounting to 120 persons for three or four days.

In the case of CHOGM, he said he believed Government was responsible for paying the bills of less than four persons.

’At most it won’t be more than four people so that we would be responsible for a total of 216 people at best in terms of accommodation.

’But we have to make certain that our accommodation is available to engage all the people that are likely to come,’ Browne said.

He recalled that the American government brought a delegation of 1,000 people for the summit.

’We paid for four persons so the American delegation effectively brought a fiscal stimulus package,’ he said.

Speaking earlier, Mark claimed that Government was about to spend another $1.5 billion to stage CHOGM.

’It might be too late to turn back. But let these fellas help you. Let the heads who are coming here pay for their own hotel accommodation so that we can put some money towards building roads, providing water, hospital, hiring more police officers,’ he said.