Panday unimpressed with talk of city status for Chaguanas, Arima

Basdeo Panday is not impressed with statements by Prime Minister Patrick Manning that the Boroughs of Chaguanas and Arima could be upgraded to City status. And the Opposition Leader has dismissed it as nothing more than idle gimmickry.

“How is the changing of the status of these places going to benefit the people of those areas? " Panday asked in a media release.

The former prime minister said there is nothing preventing the government from decentralizing public services, building hospitals, upgrading the market facilities and improving the roads and drainage in the municipalities.

"It is the political narrow-mindedness of the PNM and the government that has prevented the people of Arima and Chaguanas from enjoying a better standard of living," Panday said, adding that the attitude of the government is not going to improve by a name change.

Panday accused the central government of depriving all municipal corporations of funding for road repairs, drainage and infrastructure, as well as health services such as spraying for mosquitoes.

He said the government has not decentralized the operations of government offices to make services easier to access because of the PNM’s lack of will and interest.

“Mr Manning brought up all of these issues because he needed to find something else to talk about instead of the issue of spiraling crime, collapse of the health system, inflation and the corruption that his thriving under his watch and supervision,” Panday said.