Guest column: The PP gov't has stunned its critics by its resilence and determination

The discussion continues about the performance of the People’s Partnership. 

No government has come under the scrutiny in so short a space of time as this government. No government has had to face criticism as this government has had to face. No government has been given so short a honeymoon as this government. 

Despite this the government has remained cohesive and stable, this despite insinuations in the media that the Cabinet is divided and the partnership is weakening. 

The attempts by a few misguided COP high rankers to cause friction has also gone out of the window despite Mr Dookeran not admonishing his chosen Deputy Leader Robert Mayers for his intemperate statements meant to damage the party.

The truth if it be told is that Kamla as PM has done a great job of managing a disparate group of individuals and has united business and labour as never before. In the midst of all of this she has allowed a freedom and democracy with respect to speech within the PP that is unprecedented. 

This is why David Abdullah can go all over the place marching with the PSA and still remain in the Senate. In any other party he would have been yesterday’s scrap paper. 

It is only because of the confidence of the leader in her party and the people of the country that she can manage such diversity. The reason is that she has successfully positioned herself as the hope for Trinidad and Tobago and is sincere and open with the people. In addition she has demonstrated that she is human and has had the humility to admit her mistakes. This is in abject opposition to the arrogance of the Mannings, the Imberts and the Rowleys.

The attempts to destabilize this government over the last six weeks by one newspaper in particular and by the Editor of another, as well as the propaganda of non performance has been defeated by the PP and their performance in and out of Parliament. 

The people are beginning to see that the PP is working in their interest. The same propaganda that was tried in the elections has been repeated albeit under different topics.

Do you remember some of the propaganda of the PNM for the elections?

• CEPEP will be shut down. It has not been shut down!
• GATE will be stopped. It has been expanded!
• The old age grant will be stopped. Well, pensioners now get not a grant but pension of $3000 per month which is received by nearly 60,000 persons above 65 years of ageGovt will not give the $2 million a s first prize for the Calypso contest. It has also been given for Soca Monarch, Chutney Soca and steelband finals.
• URP will be shut down. Well has it been shut down?

The PP government has had to clean up the mess of the PNM. Let us be fair to the party and recall what in the words of the PM was the hand of cards the PP was dealt at the elections on May 24 2010. 

The Prime Minister referred to many of these at Rienzi Complex on January 24th. I wish to add to what she said on that night of celebration by adding some more.

• A treasury that had a cash balance of $5.742.7 million at the end of September 2010 compared to $9.782.3 million as at September 3oth 2009. In one year PNM whittled away $4 billion dollars cash? Firstly we were managing with less cash resources available to the Government. At the end of Sept 2008 it was $10,789.3 million
• A murder rate that was escalating and which had hit 550 at the end of 2009
• An unconstitutional SUATT with highly paid Officers (getting $5000 top off pay) leaving the Police Service with lower paid officers and depleted in numbers. We had a de-motivated Police Service
• The number of Officers short was in the words of the former Minister of National Security 2000 plus
• The economy was in negative growth. The decline did not start with the PP Government. We have been working to halt the decline
• The public debt was at its highest ever threatening the international financial ratings of the country. We have restored the confidence of the international Financial agencies in TT
• The PP inherited the CLICO and HCU matters, which as of date we are yet trying to fully unravel. We have not run away from our responsibility to repay the depositors. We may not altogether agree on the way forward but we are a govt who intends to keep its word 
• The PP inherited the wage negotiations with the PSA. This was something the former gov't failed to deal with and particularly so when the country was enjoying healthier finances. That today we are in a position where we are not in a similarly strong financial position does not mean that we are not prepared to do that which is right for the public servants. However the national interest must also be secured. Threats will not cower this Government into submission. We will do what is sensible and right
• The PP inherited a series of unpaid bills to contractors, bills that were not paid long before our coming into government. These unpaid bills caused contractors to quit job sites. The former Govt closed several housing projects affecting the economy. This shut down of construction started with them
• The PP inherited a situation where in the energy sector there were no bidders for deep sea wells. They changed the tax regime and bidders are back
• The PP inherited abandoned housing estates including one for $156 million in Egypt Trace, Chaguanas
• The PP inherited a legal system in which the wheels of justice were grinding to a halt. A good example of this is the 470,000 cases in the Magistrates Court
• The PP inherited dilapidated schools with roofs caving in. A good example is the Charlieville Presbyterian School which has been re-built by Minister Gopeesingh. The Balmain School is also being rebuilt
• The PP inherited unfinished Community Centres with heavy cost overruns. We are completing these and have been opening them for the benefit of the people
• The PP inherited a WASA which after billions cannot provide a reliable supply of water. Now the PP is completing 29 kms of pipe from Navet to San Fernando to boost water supply
• The PP inherited a Police Service who did not have the legislation to back up their ground efforts
• The PP inherited a Health Service with a backlog of surgeries especially in the area of cataracts
• The PP inherited an ODPM which was less than responsive to disasters. It took the Minister of Local Govt less than a month to set up warehouses with emergency supplies to respond to disasters
• The PP inherited a farming community who were having difficulties accessing services and payments for damages to crops due to floods. In our first flood response they were paid within thirty days by Minister Bharath
• The PP inherited an unfinished and cost overrun hospital in Tobago which we are completing
• The PP inherited a boat MV Su which was bought and repaired at considerable expense but never worked
• The PP inherited incomplete buildings in POS which are now bringing no revenues to the govt. We will complete them and use them for Govt offices because we also inherited a 400 million annual rent for Govt offices
• The PP inherited a 20% of the population who are impoverished and living as poor. This is 260,000 persons in a country in which the GDP per capita is about $100,000 TT on the average
• The PP inherited a decision by the PNM to buy OPV’s which were not built to specifications and which were costing $5 billion dollars
• The PP inherited a situation where $13 billion dollars of taxes are to be collected
• The PP inherited a Petrotrin that is in debt and has been sued for $12 billion
• The PP inherited a Tarouba stadium that was supposed to cost $250,000 but now has cost close to One thousand million dollars
• The PP inherited a school system in which our young children were being sexually molested by teachers

This is what the PP inherited and we cannot ignore this dastardly inheritance which they must deal with side by side as they reconstruct and redevelop.

The disenchantment with the government is coming from a population who have very high expectations of the PP. They were fed up of driving on bad roads, having to face water woes and being flooded out. 

They want a cataclysmic shift in their quality of life in these areas and are losing their patience in having to wait. It is in the delivery of these basic services that the PP will regain the perceived loss of confidence in them. 

The disenchantment is also being fuelled by the 289,000 PNM voters who want the previous political culture to continue. It is a calculated strategy that we are seeing being played out in the talk of loss of confidence in the economy. There is no loss of confidence. Let it not be forgotten that this gov't has had the largest ever mandate in the 54 years of elections in TT.

I have not seen companies closing shop and running away from TT. I have not seen mass retrenchment. I am daily hearing about new investors and even read of a new $2 billion US project announced by the Minister of Energy last week which was carried in the media. 

I see people eating in restaurants as usual; I see Ariapita Avenue filled every night. I see people at fetes for Carnival as if it were the boom days. Where is the lack of confidence? Where is the crumbling economy?

The real problem is that the antagonists and naysyers hoped that the PP would have self-destructed by now. 

What they have failed to see is that the foundation for a strong partnership was dug and cast at Saith Park when the PM united all the NGO’s and all the groups under the common vision of one voice one people. She knew what she was doing. She was more of a leader then than this country gave her credit for.

Chandra Harnanan