UNC slams government borrowing, policies

Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo said it has taken 51 years and four governments to borrow up to $30 billion under the Development Loans Act, but the current government has borrowed double that figure.

Speaking at the Opposition media conference on Sunday, Tancoo said the government was passing the bill for spending on to future generations.

“They live today by mortgaging the future of the children. If the debt is spread equally, each person will owe over $100,000 dollars.”

Tancoo was referring to a statement made by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in Parliament on Friday, where Imbert said Government will be able to increase its borrowing limit from $55 billion to $65 billion for general development under the Development Loans Act.

Tancoo said plans announced by Imbert for stiffer penalties for offences under the Praedial Larceny Prevention, Summary Offences, Tobago Control, Children, State Lands, and Minerals Acts, were all part of the minister’s plans to tax, fine, and borrow.

“The fines which the minister spoke of already exist. How many people have been caught and brought to court for these offenses? Higher fines had no value to the citizens of this country if no-one is brought to justice.”

Tancoo also took the Imbert to task for not providing more funding to the Agriculture Ministry to assist with praedial larceny patrols. He said farmers could be contributing more to the economy if they did not have to worry about this problem.

“In the last budget, $500 million was set aside for an agricultural stimulus package. Since then, $57 million was given to the Agriculture Minister for the hamper programme, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption. This means that the Finance Minister is sitting on $443 million, which could be used to hire more officers of the praedial larceny squad and purchase additional vehicles and equipment in order to assist farmers in dealing with this problem.”

Also speaking at the media conference, Tabaquite MP Anita Haynes criticised the government for its handling of the energy sector. She questioned whether liberalisation of the fuel market would truly be a benefit to the people of TT. Referring to the formula announced by Imbert for a fuel levy, she called for a discussion on the subject.

“Are we going to benefit from competition and have a truly liberal market? Where will the competitors come from? Will NP be an active player? Will it become a bulk oil distributor? Parts of its fleet are already outsourced.

“Even though it is supposed to be paid by the retailers, I’m sure it would be built into the price paid at the pump. The funds collected through the levy should be put directly into infrastructure improvement.

“The state of our roads has never been worse. It is ludicrous to talk about the fuel market when you’re being asked to drive on half a road. Spend it in a way that citizens can see the benefit. Government has been unable to say how citizens will benefit from this, but arbitrarily say they will see lower prices. If you’re going to enact a new policy, come with all the details up front. Making it up as you go along will not suffice.”

Tancoo also had questions for TSTT, Imbert, and the Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales based on a memo which he said "found its way" into his mailbox.

“It is a TSTT memo addressed to a director, and it says: 'TSTT wishes to advise that it has selected a FinTech partner based on the proposals related/received in relation to the above-captioned expression of interest (EOI).

"'As a result, the FinTech component of the EOI is now closed, just to repeat, the FinTech component of the EOI is now closed. Notwithstanding the above, please note that TSTT continues to evaluate the other components of the EOI and will communicate on the awards of the same, soon after this is determined. TSTT thanks you for your interest in doing business with us. Yours faithfully, procurement services.'”

Tancoo said, having worked in a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, this approach did not gibe with his understanding of basic procurement practice.

“Basic procurement practice is the creation of specifications, the request for expressions of interest, either to known providers or in public, the review of these expressions of interest and the evaluation of them, to evaluate the capability and capacity of the providers, the issuance then of a formal tender process, the evaluation of these tenders, negotiations and then the award of the tender.

"I have never heard of the award of a contract based solely on an EOI, especially if there are multiple potential supporters."

"So I have to ask the directors of TSTT, the CEO of TSTT, managers of TSTT, the Public Utilities Ministry, and the Finance Ministry, under whom all of this falls: is this award real? Because if it is, then clearly somebody or somebodies at these entities has to be held accountable because these are not TSTT’s funds, these are monies that belong to the tax paying citizens of TT.”

In a response issued later Sunday, TSTT said, "TSTT is committed to robust and transparent business and procurement practices. The company wishes to reiterate that it adheres strictly to its board-approved procurement procedures. TSTT gives the assurance that due diligence was followed in the selection of a FinTech partner that was referenced at a recent press conference, and that there was no breach whatsoever of TSTT’s procurement processes."

Phone calls and messages to Gonzales were not returned.