Kamla: ‘Mind your Business’ was election campaigning

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the two-part televised address “Mind your Business: Reporting to the Nation” by the Prime Minister was election campaigning at taxpayers’ expense.

“What is very clear from this broadcast is that they show an incompetent, failed government in desperation and panic mode, sensing they will lose the elections and maybe, on the advice of their handlers, they launched their re-election campaign. This tedious and jumbled address was essentially the campaign rhetoric of a hapless politician rather than the expected public accountability on an articulated vision of a prime minister. Those on this side, as indeed many citizens, were flabbergasted by the Prime Minister’s blatant politicking using taxpayers’ money.”

She was speaking in the House yesterday, on a private members’ motion on the programme which aired on January 6 and 7.

She said the address contained errors, not only in the fundamentals of grammar, but several inaccuracies and “outright contempt for the truth.” Persad-Bissessar said Dr Rowley elevated the blame game to “Olympic proportions” and, because the Government had no achievements to speak of in their fourth year, chose to blame the former government and the media “instead of facing challenges and demanding accountability from ministers.” She said Rowley was governing in the rear-view mirror and always looking backwards.

Persad-Bissessar said the former government “gifted” this administration $112 billion in savings in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF) and in foreign reserves.

“They have squandered it all.”

She said the Government has put no money into the HSF but has withdrawn twice, and 11 months of import cover has been reduced to seven months. She also said the creation of 55,000 jobs in 2015 has been turned to a loss of 21,000 jobs up to 2017 which did not include Petrotrin, TSTT and other service providers.

Persad-Bissessar said, contrary to claims by the Government, the previous administration “raided” $14 million or $16 million from the National Gas Company, the last government took $12.84 billion over a five year period.

“How much did you take in three years?”

She also said yesterday was an historic day as it was her ninth anniversary as political leader of the UNC.