Kamla calls Imbert a false messiah

ACCUSING Finance Minister Colm Imbert of being untruthful in his bright economic forecast, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has described him as a “false messiah” and the Prime Minister as the “would-be messiah.”

Reading from the Central Bank’s Financial Stability Report on Monday, Imbert said despite the pandemic, the financial sector remained resilient. He said sound indicators for the banking and insurance industry suggested the pandemic-related risks were largely contained.

Imbert also said TT had the highest credit rating in the Caribbean and Latin America. He called on critics to be more holistic in their examination of the facts instead of trying to describe the country as a basket case.

On the UNC Monday night virtual report, Persad-Bissessar scoffed at his optimism.

“Minister Imbert, Minister of Finance under whom our economy collapsed, comes like the messiah, he is the messiah, bringing great tidings. He has come to save TT. But he is a false messiah.”

She also waded into Rowley as being the other would-be-messiah who has mismanaged the pandemic response.

“They revel about all these vaccines they now got, but will not take responsibility for the fact that over 1,000 persons have died. Those deaths are on your hands. Should you have acted expeditiously, some of those deaths could have been avoided.

“Because of their mismanagement and incompetence with the vaccines, we had lockdowns which led to the loss of jobs, closure of businesses and exiling of our citizens in a foreign land.

“The borders are open now, but you could have done this so long ago had you managed it better, had you secured the vaccines, had you been more competent.”

She said, over the past three months Imbert and the government have ignored the cries for help from the small and micro enterprises (SME) sector, but is now attempting to appear as though they care about the sector’s survival.

“The Minister of Finance, the false messiah, has not processed, in any significant way, salary (relief) grants for employees of SMEs who have been left to suffer, homeless, hungry, with bank foreclosures and repossession.

“Who does Imbert think he is fooling with his newfound conscience, pretending to be a messiah and a saviour to the people?

“If this Government cared about the survival of businesses, they would have introduced measures months ago.”

Imbert said Government has crossed the $5 billion mark in covid relief and promised there will be a residual covid relief in the next budget.

Persad-Bissessar said it is too little, too late. She said, with all the money spent there is still suffering and hopelessness.

She referred to small and medium-sized contractors, such as garbage collectors, the construction sector and suppliers of goods and services who are owed significant sums by the Government, adding to the collapse of the economy and suffering

She said Imbert’s attempt to now introduce a grant, tied up with massive red tape when businesses need cashflow to pay rents, pay workers and survive, is reckless. She described it pure political gimmickry.

“It is disgraceful that after months of suffering people, he boasted that only 4,000 salary grants have been paid out from 24,000 applications.”

Imbert confirmed that about $12 million has been paid out to 4,000 of the 24,000 applications submitted since the relief grant was restarted in May 2021. He said almost 15,000 of the applicants have been screened.

“This is a false messiah preaching in front of you. Does he even have a care for people? No, he is simply following his leader’s cue.”

She said in addition to ignoring the SMEs, Government has not processed any VAT refunds for the year, which would have released some cash flow to them.

Persad-Bissessar again called on Government to pay businesses their VAT returns and reduce tax burdens on citizens and businesses.