Editorial: Rowley can't hide behind God

There is a saying that God helps those who help themselves.

So while torrential rains are acts of God flooding due to negligence isn't.

And that is what happened in Trinidad this week - flooding caused by negligence on the part of those whose responsibility it was to make sure that water courses were free, drains cleaned and debris removed to allow the free flow of water.

And the people who had that responsibility for the past nine years - and before - are members of the People's National Movement (PNM).

Sure there will always be some flooding when there are unusually heavy rains.

But Opposition Leader Keith Rowley cannot wash his hands and the hands of the former PNM administration from blame in the flooding that occurred over the past few days.

The PNM was in charge of the country since Christmas eve 2001 until the people voted the party out of office on May 24. And it had a responsibility to clean the drains, dredge the rivers and make every effort to alleviate the flooding problem.

But it was content to focus on other things, such as international conferences and high rise buildings, not to mention mysterious churches, million dollar flags and favours for friends and supporters.

Floods wreaked havoc year after year and the PNM government looked the other way.

Now Rowley is saying "don't blame the PNM" for the floods.

Why not? Who should take the blame? Who wasted the people's money and refused to fix the infrastructure?

The PNM had been in office for 30 years before it was booted out by the NAR in 1986. It came back in 1991 and still did nothing to fix the problem.

The rains have been falling since before Noah's time but responsible people knew what to do about it.

Whose responsibility it was to look after the infrastructure?

The people themselves must take some of the blame for the abuse of the environment but if Rowley wants to be honest he must acknowledge that the government of which he was a part contributed significantly to the problem the country faces today.

The new People's Partnership government has done well so far to respond to this problem that fell on its laps the moment it took office.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her cabinet colleagues have been working overtime to deal with the problem the PNM helped create due to neglect.

The new government has pledged to do everything it can to deal with the problem. However, no one should expect overnight solutions and miracles. It will take time to fix what is wrong.

The immediate concern is to help the thousands of victims. And that is what the government is doing today. And it's focus is also on long term solutions.

In this regard, Works Minister Jack Warner has already met with international experts and Finance Minister Winston Dookeran is looking into finding money for medium and long term projects to reduce flooding, and hopefully make it just a bad memory.