T&T Parliament reopens with call for greater productivity

The third session of the 9th Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago opened in rainy weather in Port of Spain Monday with a joint session involving both house of Parliament and the Judiciary.

President George Maxwell Richards was met outside of the Red House by the President of the Senate, Danny Montano and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Barendra Sinanan.

The president inspected a guard of honour and took the salute at the ceremonial opening before entering the Parliament chamber for the throne speech.

In his speech, Richards noted that one of the most serious problems facing Trinidad and Tobago today is a lack of productivity. He said in order to accelerate development, the country must become more competitive.

Richards used statistical data from the global competitiveness index to show that while the country is among nations in the highest grouping its has dropped significantly.

In 2009, the ranking on the global index was 86 out of 133, an improvement from the ranking of 97 in the previous year. However he stated it is a big fall from the ranking of 47 in 2003.

He said on the plus side, the country ranks high in such areas as savings, education, taxation and employment. However he said there are negatives as well, which include crime, a poor work ethic, inefficiency in the bureaucracy and a lack of adequate infrastructure.

Richards said the focus of the nation should be on significantly increasing competitiveness, noting that this is something that will only come from a partnership involving the private, public and labour sectors.

He said a starting point is the improve transportation, roads, water supply, irrigation systems as well as paying greater attention to protecting the environment. He said technology to deal with all of these already exists and can be put to use with any major research and development.

The president said it is clear that the nation is not where "we ought to be" and greater efforts are needed to satisfy the needs of citizens.

Richards was unhappy with the commitement to education, which he said stands at only one per cent of GDP. He said while it represents a signficant investment in education, it is well behind developed nations.

He also touched on the need for everyone to focus more on education in order to create a better society, starting in the home. Parents, he said, must become more involved in their children's education.

He addressed teachers and said they must take their roles seriously, taking care to note that some of them - not all - see treat schools merely as a place to "sign in and sign out".

Richards said when parents and teachers show disdain for education, children are led to ask, What's the point?", which is what is causing the high dropout rates among young people.

"It's a long road ahead," he said, "and there are no quick fixes."