Citizens want less tax and people centred budget

While Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was on a plane on her way home Sunday, acting PM and Finance Minister Winston Dookeran was meeting with stakeholders to discuss the budget.

The consultation in Chaguanas was the latest in a series of similar meetings Dookeran had held in preparation for then first budget of the People's partnership (PP) government.

And the message he heard from the people was that citizens want less taxation, reduced red bureaucracy and institutions that work.

People called for a budget that would begin to define a new future for Trinidad and Tobago.

Activist and former diplomat Stephen Kangal called for clear signals from the government about the billion-dollar rapid rail project. Kangal said people who could lose their properties if the project continues are waiting for a definite answer.

Former Caparo councillor Paras Ramoutar asked for a Chaguanas hospital and suggested that it could be located at Carlsen Field.

Chaguanas Mayor Orlando Nagessar also spoke on behalf of the borough. He suggested that the budget should be short on promises and focused on action on some specific issues.

"Can we have a statement on the Hindu Credit Union? Something in that issue has to be said," he said.

On flooding he said he wants to see a policy as a priority funds for an effective plan on flood prevention and management. And he called for an assessment of the activities of the Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD).

He charged that the company, which the Manning government set up to manage lands that were owned by Caroni (1975) Ltd., had indulged in a "land grab" and he demanded an end to it.

"This land grab has been for housing and I am asking that a stop be put to this now," Nagessar said, adding, "Everything is being bulldozed indiscriminately for housing."

Minister in the Ministry of Social Development Dr Lincoln Douglas said now is the time for the PP government to demonstrate that it cares for the welfare and needs of the people.

"I always felt as if (the budget) is more of a crystal ball-ish kind of thing, where politicians try to predict what people want and what will make them happy," he said.

"I feel that for too long, many of the wrong questions have been asked...Has anyone ever asked 'Who are these people living on this island? What are their needs? What do they need to develop towards a meaningful way of life?' I feel as if I have never really known what the place of the budget is in the lives on the people.

"The budget must subscribe to a process of development, it must be part of the process of development," he said.

"The important questions about the population are not being asked and this must change," the minister said.