Our economic reality

THE EDITOR: The calls are becoming desperate, “Steve you have to do this. If you do not form the next government we will be in big trouble.”

I am not one to be fooled by the voices of a few. I am not out there proclaiming to be the answer to all our problems, and I am wise enough to know that if the general election were to be held today there is every possibility that I will lose my deposit.

But the people crying out for help are not mad people. They are very aware of the fact that we have reduced our foreign reserves to almost half of what we had a few years ago.

They know that with the current rate of consumption of foreign goods we will soon be without enough funds to feed our population that is almost totally dependent on foreign food.

The people that are hoping for a Democratic Party of TT (DPTT) government know that the hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road were bought by our low foreign exchange.

If the average car costs $100,000 and on any given day we have over 250,000 cars on the road, that’s a $25 billion testimony of our usage of foreign exchange.

When we factor in the daily use of imported gas and parts, we have a frightening view of how we continue to use our limited foreign exchange.

Add the cost of feeding the nation, building materials and travel and we immediately see that unless we can quickly find new and innovative ways to earn foreign exchange, our savings will dry up and we will have no way of getting new funds.

One can then see our people in their thousands blaming the government of the red or the yellow for the ills that confront us rather than recognising that in desperate times we have to unite and do what is best for country rather that for red or yellow.

Almost every country, large or small, depends heavily on tourism for foreign exchange. At the prize-giving presentation of the Australian Open tennis competition, the managers stated that the best way to help Australia overcome the disastrous fire season was to visit Australia.

Tourism can be a major contributor to our foreign reserves. There are, however, major hurdles in the way.

Not many will be willing to visit a country where in a population of under 1.5 million there are more murders in a year than there are days.

Who would want to invest in tourism in a country where the water supply is sporadic, the sewer system is outdated, the roads are bad, the environment is in a state of squalor and the government support services are antiquated and deemed by many to be corrupt.

Instead of recognising the need to upgrade our ports and rebuild our infrastructure, this Government seemed to insinuate that Sandals did not invest in Tobago because of political comments. Did the Government ever pause to do some introspection and validate the package it was offering or hoping to offer?

TT is not on easy street. Criminals are emboldened by our poor laws with regard to guns and a judicial system that at best seems unable to cope with the demand for swift justice.

Our local food production is almost non-existent, our manufacturing and processing plants are starved for innovation to be competitive globally.

We are desperately holding on to declining supplies of oil and gas to generate the foreign exchange to support our desire for more cars, cellphones, foreign food and the basics of life.

The DPTT has a plan to reduce crime, increase local food production, find innovative ways to earn foreign exchange through tourism, agriculture, marine services, sports and culture.

We have major plans to upgrade our infrastructure to make our country more attractive to tourists.

All of this and much more are possible if we can find the strength and courage to rid ourselves of the racial attraction of the two major political parties and embrace each other in an effort to collectively rebuild our land.

My leadership may be the solution but the real answer to our problems lies with each of us doing our part to save our land.

Talk to your neighbours and friends. Discuss with your friends after religious meetings the possibility of getting someone in your town, in your village, in your community to start a DPTT group and let that person be a representative in the next general election.

Together all of us can find solutions to our very critical state of affairs.

STEVE ALVAREZ

political leader, DPTT