Deep disappointment after lecture by PM

THE EDITOR: After two hours of listening to the Prime Minister’s lecture to the nation and the first-stage response of the Opposition and media analysts, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of disappointment.

There was no effort to prove the validity of the PM’s figures by those opposed to his Government. No alternative figures or alternative plans. It was enough to simply imply that the Government was not being truthful.

Unfortunately, at this time of the country’s development we have regressed to a stage where facts, common sense, data, trends and global benchmarking are irrelevant. Our politics is determined by hatred, fear of one sect dominating the government and commentaries with no basis in fact or reality.

If TT’s progress is to be determined by politicians whose argument for being elected is based on spreading fear among sectors of the population then we will continue to be a nation in decline.

The two major political parties cannot move the nation forward. Additionally, new parties that seek our vote by disparaging those in office without offering a realistic path to safety and prosperity cannot be the answer.

Over the years both major parties have shown that they lack the vision and commitment to country to improve the quality of life for citizens.

The following are examples of how both parties have failed and continue to fail in taking simple steps to address issues that plague the nation over the years. Water distribution is a perfect example.

In a land where every rainy season we are blessed with an abundance of water, one political party in government, rather than improving our capacity to store water, tied our nation to paying in US dollars for desalinated water for decades.

Next to this very expensive source of water are acres of land that flood every year during the rainy season. Both parties in government did nothing to ween our nation off this very expensive source of water.

Both parties in office cannot get water distribution to be reliable as they both invest in the costly ineffective system of pumping water to our communities rather than the long-term solution of a gravity-fed distribution system.

Tourism, agriculture, public transportation and education are other areas where both have failed miserably. They have also promised local government reform, improved infrastructure and constitutional revision and never delivered.

Perhaps the one area where they have failed most miserably is in reducing crime. It must confuse even the most loyal party supporter when both parties speak about illegal guns being brought into the country via the ports yet neither of them, in or out of government, has done anything to reinstate our marine police.

In an island surrounded by water with major rivers leading inland on all sides of our country, the police do not have a single boat. Not even a kayak. Criminals can simply evade the coast guard and drive their boats up our rivers and offload their illegal goods without any fear.

The economy continues to be driven by the Government instead of the private sector. Crime continues to plague the nation, the roads are in a constant state of disrepair awaiting the next tyre-burning incident for some attention. The economy is in the hands of foreign energy investors and a small percentage of businesses that seek every way to evade paying their statutory obligations.

Meanwhile the two major parties seek re-election by simply saying “vote for us or your race will suffer.” It is time to end this trend. Unite and rebuild our nation.

STEVE ALVAREZ

political leader, DPTT