When Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar gets back to work as the head of the Trinidad and Tobago government Monday night her focus beyond the Local Government Election will no doubt be on how to fulfill her 120-day pledges and the national budget.Read the story: PM Kamla delivers on 1 of 30 promises on day 1
The People’s Partnership government has done a remarkable job since taking office on delivering on some of its promises but every one requires money. And that is a commodity – from what we are hearing from some politicians – that is not easy to come by.
Laptops are on order for kids entering High Schools for the first time in September, the $3,000 pension for seniors will be in the budget, some items with bloated budgets are being reviewed, the neglect of rural Trinidad and Tobago is being addressed and the procurement bill has been dusted and readied for Parliament.
However we are not hearing enough about the state of the economy to prepare us for the shock that will likely descend on the nation on budget day.
Finance Minister Winston Dookeran has already suggested that the nation should not be too optimistic and that some plans may have to move to the back burner or scaled down.
But the government has so far failed to communicate to citizens the fact that it would not be business as usual since the financial cupboard is bare.
Some analysts are suggesting that this failure to effectively prepare the nation for the shock will be detrimental for the government because the bitter bill would be very difficult for the population to swallow given the fact that the People’s Partnership created very high expectations during the election campaign.
The only way to ease the shock of what is to come is to begin now – perhaps after July 26 – to inform the people about what to expect so that when reality sets in citizens would at least be willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt.
And it would have to show that some of its apparent conflicting policy statements actually present no conflict.
For example, the Prime Minister was emphatic in Jamaica last week that the Caribbean should no longer look to Trinidad and Tobago as its ATM to deliver funds on demand.
However at the same time she was endorsing the Caribbean Airlines (CAL)/Air Jamaica deal, which the opposition had harshly criticized before and during the general election campaign.
Read more: T&T to pump $315M into CAL for Air Jamaica takeover
Related: Bharath demands answer on Air Jamaica deal
And even more puzzling is the endorsement of the CAL board by Dookeran who sees no need to change any of the members.
According to prominent Trinidad and Tobago attorney, former senator and political commentator Robin Montano, there is a conflict between the prime minister’s declaration that Trinidad and Tobago is not the ATM for the Caribbean and her commitment to the airline deal.
“That becomes a joke,” Montano said in correspondence with JYOTI. ”Air Jamaica will then get fuel subsidies from us. Then, haven’t we gone the expansion route before? Empty flights to Costa Rica! Empty flights to Brazil!
"What this deal really is, is a deal where we are bailing Jamaica out without any real or tangible benefits to T&T." Montano said adding that it is "absurd" to say that Caribbean Airlines will be "taking off", especially given that Dookeran is keeping the CAL board headed by Arthur Lok Jack.
According to Montano, "There are serious unanswered questions concerning the closure of BWIA and the sale of the London slots. Most, if not all of the present board was involved in that sorry little episode."
Read the story: BWIA sale of Heathrow airport slots was $M loss
Montano said it makes no sense to keep the same board because no one will ever really find out what happened and what went wrong if the government leaves the same people in charge!
"It is time to recognize that a lot of so called “good businessmen” are anything but good bueinsesmen…and most, if not all of them have agendas that are in direct conflict with the stated aims of the new Government," Montano suggested.
Related story: $20M consultancy fees for CAL justified: Lok Jack
Montano has also suggested that there might be people within the Congress of the People (COP) who are unhappy with their share of the political pie and are intent on undermining the work of the People’s Partnership government.
"All the signs are there that seem to be pointing to a determination and/or desire to sabotage the new Government before it has a chance to get off the ground," he said.
Whether this is true or not, there is a perception that all is not well within the coalition. Perception quickly becomes reality so if there is indeed a problem the best way to deal with it is to confront the issues and quickly settle them internally.
Persad-Bissessar and Jack Warner have demonstrated that they have the political will and the determination to handle such crises. They worked hard to build a successful coalition and they are not prepared to let anyone undermine it.
Communicating the reality of Trinidad and Tobago's economic problems might be a little more difficult, especially if the government fails to prepare the nation for the shock that is to come.
Jai Parasram - 12 July 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment