The chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) was speaking at a People's Partnership second anniversary rally in Tobago that coincided with the launch of the Tobago Organisation of the People's (TOP) campaign for the 2013 THA election.
Warner thanked the people of Tobago for the trust they have placed in the People's Partnership and pledged that "we will never let you down." He also promised that the government would make Tobago a better place for every Tobagonian.
"In less than two short years the People’s Partnership Government named the airport in Tobago after the most famous and most beloved son of Tobago, His Excellency Arthur NR Robinson. Why did it take the PNM THA under Orville London so long to do that?" Warner asked.
He also noted the opening of the Scarborough hospital. "In less than two short years the People’s Partnership Government delivered the Scarborough Hospital for the people of Tobago, a project, which the PNM could not complete in ten years. Why did it take the PNM so long to do that?
"In less than two years the People's Partnership government has produced a Green Paper that spells out internal self government for Tobago and a series of consultations shall begin on this document in the next few weeks.
"For 48 years you had a PNM government ruling T&T and they did not do in 48 years what we have done in less than 48 months. Why?"
The Works Minister called the PNM "bold-faced" for preparing a THA document "purporting to improve the political life of Tobagonians" and one of the main things they have mentioned in it is that they must be given the right to fix their own salaries.
"Heaven help Tobago if that were ever to be passed!" he declared.
Warner said the government of which he is a part has expanded the quality of service for people in Tobago and questioned why the PNM controlled THA has failed to do the same. "The question is why does it take the PNM so long, especially in Tobago, to do simple things to make life better for the people of Tobago?"
He said the People’s Partnership Government is for the people of both Tobago and Trinidad. At the same time he slammed the PNM for what he said is "the synonym for graft, corruption and greed, the synonym for nepotism and bad governance...the synonym for everything that is considered bad for Trinidad and especially for Tobago."
He illustrated his point by noting the Auditor General’s report for the year 2005 signed on 4 April 2012, which he said is a condemnation of the Orville London led Tobago House of Assembly.
"In 2005 over $105 million in expenditures have not been accounted for by the Orville London led PNM THA," he said.
"In 2005, over $20 million in acquisitions could not be verified due to faulty bookkeeping. In 2005, $2.7 million in expenditure from the Fund Account approved by the Executive Council is not supported by accounting records, in 2005, $29.2 million from the Fund Account has disappeared from the accounting records," Warner added.
He said that was the picture for just 2005. "If it was so bad then ask yourself what will the audit of 2006/7/8/9/10 and 11 be. What will it be? In 2008 Cousin Anselm London informed the THA that he was going to contract an international audit firm to audit the nooks of the THA. Four years later that has not been done and remains up to now only a pipe dream!...But somehow, the money disappeared and Tobagonians are punished."
Warner spoke about some of the People's Partnership's accomplishments, including the completion of the Scarborough hospital after 10 years under construction by the PNM.
"Over the last few months you are seeing all kinds of activities in Tobago which you had never seen in the last three years. Communities are now being consulted when this had never been done before. Roads are being built to nowhere so as to enrich friends and families.
"Cash donations are been made for all kinds of school sports. Even houses are now being given away with no regard for transparency and accountability. Take all my friends and as you take it with one hand wave the PNM bye bye with the other!"
Warner told supporters and others that the "worst nightmare" for Tobago would be to bring the PNM back to the THA in January 2013. "You have to complete the work which you began in May 2010 when you removed the PNM from Tobago East and Tobago West!" he said.
He asked people to consider one important question. "What Orville London and the PNM THA can do for you tomorrow or next year that he could not have done over the last decade? What can he do now with a People’s Partnership in Central Government that he could not do when his party was in power?"
He urged Tobagonians to banish the PNM and London from power locally once and for all. The problem everywhere is the PNM, he said. He said all that the PNM has done and will do is to make promises that they never keep.
"Vote them OUT. The PNM is the problem but tonight I declare that TOP is your solution. In Ashworth Jack and the TOP, Tobago has the best opportunity to fix Tobago once and for all," he said.
Warner also promised a harmonious relationship between "an Ashworth Jack THA and a Kamla Persad-Bissessar People’s Partnership Government. It will be like a marriage made in heaven."
He said the people of Tobago have a clear choice: "Do you go forward with Ashworth Jack and the TOP or do you continue to degenerate and decline with Orville London and the PNM?...Give good leadership a chance. Give TOP a chance. Give Tobago an opportunity to rise," he declared.
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