Guest editorial: Bad move by the PNM (reproduced from the Trinidad Express)

Express Editorial:

If any single issue gets political parties kicked out of office, it is poor procurement procedures. 

This is because the defects of procurement are invariably linked to official corruption, either suspected or real. It was the "all ah we tief" perspective which helped send the PNM packing in 1986, and it was the Piarco airport project and London flat which catalysed the UNC's removal from office in 2001.

Yet, although decisive action on procurement would go far in mitigating corrupt activities in the State sector, and win significant kudos for any political leader who pushed it through, it is instructive that no political party has made this a priority once it gets into office. Is it that obligations to party financiers, and even Government Ministers, make action on procurement so untenable in our political culture?

By the same token, it will be an uphill climb for Opposition Leader Keith Rowley and the PNM parliamentary caucus to convince citizens that they serve the national interest by withdrawing from the Joint Select Committee working to develop new procurement legislation. 

Announcing that decision last week, Dr Rowley condemned what he judged to be the present Government's posture on procurement. "From what the Government is supporting and advancing here now, we have come to the conclusion that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has no real interest in rectifying the shortcomings in the country's public procurement arrangements," he said at a media conference last Monday.

But expressions of disgust at People's Partnership administration policy and practice, though expected of the Opposition, can hardly be a sufficient response. 

During its own multi-billion-dollar procurement period in government, the PNM had failed to advance legislation toward adequate oversight of public funds. Now in Opposition, the party may be perceived as undermining, if not sabotaging, multi-party efforts to fix what is widely recognised as a problem that has festered for far too long.

The PNM's position is particularly invidious since the Opposition, through representation on the JSC, is in a position at least to contribute toward the shaping of improved and enlightened procurement arrangements. 

The strategy is also poor politics, in the non-Machiavellian sense of that term, since politics is about negotiation, compromise, and influence. 

Moreover, coming from Dr Rowley, who fell out with former prime minister Patrick Manning specifically because he questioned the procurement powers of one Calder Hart, the decision seems to reflect the standard double standard of politicians who act one way in Government and the opposite when in Opposition.

The PNM caucus has now invited justified criticism, which may reflect badly on its past, its present, and damage its future. As Political Leader, Dr Rowley needs to consider this possibility.