Ameen: What did local government do to deserve Faris as minister?

LOCAL government reform comes to the Parliament on Wednesday, but St Augustine MP Khadijah Ameen said it is just another ruse by Government, which has zero achievement in local government, to give the appearance of doing something in an election year.

She said the United National Congress (UNC) will be prepared to discuss reform, which has been promised for umpteen years under the People’s National Movement (PNM), but never delivered.

“In every PNM manifesto they promised local government reform, but only in an election year they do anything,” she said at the UNC Virtual Report on Monday night.

Among the grand schemes, she said, is the creation of two boroughs in Diego Martin and Siparia before the elections. She warned this is just a cosmetic change, a ruse to give some semblance of equity.

“This is so transparent, when government has totally neglected and abused local government, when councillors continue to struggle for basic amenities."

She suggested Government look instead to confer this status on the most densely populated Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation and the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, which covers the largest geographic area.

She said the newly minted Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, Faris Al-Rawi, who is boasting about implementing local government reform and property tax, is most ill-equipped to lead this charge, given his unsuccessful and incompetent reign as the former attorney general.

Underscoring her passion for local government, where she made her debut in politics and spent ten years, Ameen questioned what did the ministry ever do so wrong as to be saddled with Faris Al-Rawi as its minister.

Local government is the arm of government which is closest to the people and affects every sphere of life, she said, casting doubts that Al-Rawi, with his “fancy pocket square and fancy words,” could make a difference in that portfolio.

“Local government is about bread-and-butter issues, not about buttering your own bread, and Faris has a history of buttering his own bread,” she said in reference to properties owned by Al-Rawi’s family which the Government rents.

She drew a comparison between one property in St Clair which she said is raking in $23 million annually, and regional corporations struggling to get $23 million for their development programme to build roads, bridges and drains.

Claiming negligence in implementing promised street lighting programmes, which sees darkened areas, leading to rape, kidnapping, murder and assault, she said regional corporations are poised to play a role in reducing these incidents with targeted programmes, but they are under resourced.

She said the ministries of Rural Development and Local Government, National Security, Public Utilities, and Works all affect local government when one can’t get a bus to go to a rural area, or, in this day and age, corporations have to pick up the bill for delivering truck-borne water in the absence of a pipe-borne supply, or when street lights are not working, leaving women vulnerable to attacks.

“You come now to talk about your fanciful plans for local government and local government reform, I want to ask, before your appointment, did you even know local government existed?

“Did you ever attempt to make any draft policy/any legislation, take a note to Cabinet to assist councillors in better delivery?”

She said councillors use their own vehicles to go on the field and deal with issues, but are not entitled to customs or VAT exemptions like MPs.

“That hypocrisy, Faris, will not fly.”

She also warned that Government may be setting up Al-Rawi for a fall, referring to previous statements by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and the Prime Minister that regional corporations will soon fall under the Office of the Prime Minister, leaving Rural Development to stand on its own.