Critical areas for discussion, debate before next election

THE EDITOR: Prime Minister Rowley’s assurance that elections will take place within constitutionally dictated time frames has led me to to return to the PNM’s manifesto for the 2015 general election.

Accordingly, there are four critically important areas that I believe can be informative and instructive should appropriate discussion and debate be brought into the public domain. These are the need for and the importance and relevance of:

* An independent national statistical institute.

* An independent national revenue authority.

* A national economic development board particularly with respect to the articulation of long-term economic and social goals, analysis of both the short and long-term impacts of alternative policies and investments (the economy, the environment, science, technology, environment and maths), as well as to make specific recommendations on the feasibility and impact of the alternative policy initiatives across all policy areas.

* A public procurement and disposal of public property act.

Additionally, it would be extremely helpful to champion debate and discussions on campaign finance reform with a view to implementation of appropriate campaign financing legislation drawing on experiences of models in use in the UK, US, as well as within other jurisdictions and determine whether this can be successfully done before the constitutionally due general election in 2020.

I believe that discussions on these issues can be far more productive as well as educational. The current direction in which media “noises” are being bombarded on the public seems somewhat counterproductive.

SAMUEL B HOWARD via e-mail

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"Critical areas for discussion, debate before next election"

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