What will Dr Rowley say?

THE ECONOMY, fallout from the closure of Petrotrin, local government reform, property tax and the proposed Sandals project for Tobago are likely to be among the issues Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will discuss in his two-part televised address to the nation, political analysts have said.

The first address takes place today at 7.30 pm while the second is scheduled for tomorrow at 8 pm, the Office of the Prime Minister said yesterday in a statement.

Political commentator Dr Winford James suggested the addresses may focus on several burning issues, most notably the country’s stagnant economy and the ongoing backlash to the Government’s decision to do away with Petrotrin and form two new entities, Heritage Petroleum Co Ltd and Paria Fuel Trading Co, in an attempt to ensure greater productivity in the energy sector.

The energy sector has traditionally been the mainstay of the economy.

During Rowley’s last address to the nation, last September, he spoke at length about Petrotrin, saying the company’s refinery was for sale and that the Oilfield’s Workers Trade Union, which represents workers in the energy sector, would have had the first chance at acquiring it.

This would have been an alternative to shutting down the refinery completely as part of the company’s restructuring process.

On that occasion, he also sought to defend the government’s decision to abolish Petrotrin, saying the state-owned company had long been a burden on the economy but that’s its retrenched employees would have generally received handsome severance packages.

Apart from Petrotrin, James is hoping some attention will be paid to pressing developments already in the public domain, most of which, he said, were not ventilated in the Prime Minister’s New Year’s Day address. In fact, the retired university lecturer said he was disappointed with Rowley’s New Year’s Day address, which, he observed, lacked substance but was laced with “waffle and platitudes.”

“I saw nothing there with respect to the direction which the country would go in respect of the high points,” he told Sunday Newsday.

“There was no repetition of policy or policy emphasis to drive home his government’s agenda in the public’s mind. “If he is now going to give a two-part address to the nation, it may be because he knew he did not put much thought in the New Year’s Day address.”

James predicted the PM’s presentation will be underpinned by an overview of his administration’s performance last year and initiatives to be undertaken in 2019.

“So, there will be lots of repetition. But, I think he will give us more detail than we have had so far for Sandals. I imagine he will come with more definite proposals with respect to that and with respect to the government’s approach in getting that off the ground.”

James said he expects to see an emphasis on initiatives to promote natural gas as opposed to oil even though there may be “some uncertainty” over the ability of the Venezuela Dragon gas deal given the escalating socio-economic crisis in that country.

James said Rowley could possibly “resurrect” some issues he has not paid attention to in a while, namely local government reform - perhaps in the context of the Local Government election, constitutionally due this year - and property tax, which is also scheduled to be rolled out in 2019. Saying the proposed Toco port could be discussed in relation to what he described as the “continuing unreliability” of the sea bridge between Port of Spain and Scarborough, James is also hoping to hear measures to rehabilitate deteriorating main roads.

“The Eastern Main Road is a mess. The feeder roads are in even more of a mess. And then all of the white lines are fading away and nobody is repainting them.

“The non highway arteries are in a veritable mess and maybe he will pay attention to that.”

Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath predicted the economy and Petrotrin will largely be the focus of Rowley’s address.

“People are already predicting who is going to get the ownership of the lease of Petrotrin,” he told Sunday Newsday.

Ragoonath said he had spoken recently to a former senator who expressed concerns about the state of the economy. “They thought 2019 would have been the time when things would have been looking up but things are not looking as up at it should be.” Head of the Department of Behavioural Sciences at UWI, St Augustine, Ragoonath said the Prime Minister may also touch on issues of governance as well as Tobago in relation to the island’s push for internal self-government.

Ragoonath said, though, crime may not receive much prominence.

“I think he is going to leave crime for the time being because he is going to say he thinks Gary Griffith is finding his feet and doing a good enough job so far. So, they are going to give Griffith a chance.”

Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU)’s chief education and research officer Ozzie Warwick said Rowley should address rising poverty and what he considered to be the “growing inequality and inequity taking place as a result of government’s austerity measures.

“The most important thing is recognising the growing inequality and gap between the haves and the have-nots, which has been intensified by the tough measures that his government has implemented. “

Measures to resolve the broken industrial relations climate, Warwick said, must also be taken into account. “How is the Government going to resolve all of the current conflicts taking place?” he asked. “Making it more antagonistic is not helpful for the country.”

Warwick said Rowley should also recognise, in his address, the importance of the people’s participation in a democracy.

Up until news time, Communications Minister Stuart Young gave no indication of the issues that are likely to be highlighted in the PM’s address.

Calls and Whatsapp messages to his cellphone also went unanswered.