COP ready for major role in unification as a step to fixing T&T

The Congress of the People (COP) said Friday its membership is firmly behind the "principled position" COP leader Winston Dookeran has taken "on the role the party will play in any new government where this country’s economy is concerned."

In a media release, COP pointed to Dookeran's statement in support of the need for a serious approach to ending "the disastrous path of profligate spending of this (Manning) administration".

Dookeran has said COP will work to put "an end to all the hype,pizazz, glitter, glamour, feteing and summit type activity meant to distract and fool the people of this country, and our friends in the region.”

He added, “In any event, the money just isn’t there, and I fully expect a return to the IMF and other international lending institutions well before the next election,” said Dookeran.

The leader has been meeting with key officials of the COP over the last two weeks, including Constituency Officials, and the consensus is that the party has to maintain one of its key mantras of fixing the country.

Dookeran said, "This will be a major contribution to achieving sustainable unification."

He has maintained that "a Herculean task awaits the new government as far as addressing the failed economic policies of the PNM."

He cited the state of the energy sector as an example. "Daily, we are reading of the number of disasters impacting the various components of the sector, whether it be gas or oil.

"An example is the legal troubles at PETROTRIN, contracts entered into without any real long-term planning involved, contraction in our LNG sources, and as revealed in a recent daily, the bizarre treatment of possible foreign investors, who are kept waiting for years on decisions from the various energy czars.”

Dookeran added, "I have been studying this particular issue for sometime, and after speaking to a number of foreign potential investors, I am able to say that clearly, the monster of corruption constantly enters the negotiations.”

He said, "The COP will bring some of the finest legal minds, economists and businessmen into the unity process, and merged with those in the other parties who are of similar inclination, the incoming administration plans to tackle the monumental task with vigour and determination, but with little or no “oomph.”