Rowley defining bad governance

DINESH RAMBALLY

WHILE MURDERS have surpassed 200 for the year, PM Rowley has chosen to visit Barbados to play golf with his esteemed colleagues for which he makes no apology.

The court has condemned the actions associated with the abduction of Brent Thomas in Barbados while the PM, all Cabinet ministers and the Commissioner of Police have no knowledge of what transpired. The Minister of National Security, however, made a statement acknowledging where the criminal elements have friends.

This is good governance as defined by the Rowley-led PNM.

Minister Donna Cox has apologised to pensioners for the long delay in them getting their money but makes no apology for having these senior citizens wait in lines outside the offices of Social Development for hours due to the ministry’s incompetence with updating their records and preventing internal fraud.

This is how you treat senior citizens, many of whom are sick and ill-prepared to go through this ordeal.

No apologies there as that is the Rowley led PNM’s good governance.

While Imbert and Rowley boast of improving the economy, the citizens including the pensioners are being told to brace for the introduction of property tax, the tainted RIC has no issues in raising T&TEC rates, albeit using ten-year-old data, and the increase in water rates is coming, never mind the inconsistency in supply.

Fuel prices have been raised consistently with the intention of removing all subsidies but salary negotiations are stuck at four per cent.

This is good governance according to the Rowley PNM.

The Government talks about transitioning to a green economy and alternative energy yet, according to the April 30 Express, hundreds of citizens cannot legally generate electricity to power their homes and businesses due to the Government not granting licences.

Even the National Energy Corporation (a state entity) that constructed a roof solar power system cannot utilise it and to avoid embarrassment to the respective ministers cannot answer any questions. Minister Marvin Gonzales, according to the report, is unaware of the licensing problems while Minister Pennelope Beckles is silent.

Silence on these important policy issues has now become good governance by the Rowley PNM.

According to the recent IMF Article IV Report, the Government must focus on economic diversification. To date, after much talk, economic diversification has eluded the Government. It continues to rely on windfalls from the energy sector despite the warning signals, the reduced gas and oil output, and the mothballing of plants at Pt Lisas and the high volatility of energy prices.

Is this financial management by “quick pick?” This is good governance by Rowley’s PNM.

Employment and underemployment continue to be a challenge. The high inflation rate is proving to be very challenging for the majority of the population. Food prices have been skyrocketing with little input from the Government.

It seems blind to the fact that many people struggle to live from paycheck to paycheck while the banks impose the most ridiculous of fees and restrictions in the name of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing.

Citizens are struggling to buy food, pay for their children’s education and pay for medical expenses, yet the Government wants to increase all utility rates and introduce property tax to the already burdened population.

While the small people are left to fend for themselves, the big boys collect fat paychecks from the State. The Office of the President requested a $10,797,000 increase in allocation for overseas travel. Also note the whopping legal fees paid to the "first gentleman" and other PNM-affiliated attorneys as reported in the Sunday Guardian newspaper. I am sure all of this was money well spent.

Small people, taxpayers, the people who have to wait hours upon hours to get medical attention at the hospitals, the people who have their surgeries at the hospitals continuously put off, the people who were given doses of radiation at the St James facility, the pensioners who have to wait sometimes more than a year to collect their pensions, the businesses that cannot collect their VAT refunds, taxpayers who cannot get their PAYE refunds, etc should not be bothered by these facts.

After all, it was described in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. You are simply not equal enough. You do not belong to that rung of society that this Rowley PNM government views as important enough to prioritise. You are simply less than pawns in a high-stakes game.

The pensioners and those that are unable to get their grants must understand that their monies are by necessity being channelled to the high-stakes players and offices like the President. Under the present PNM regime you are not official enough to allocate funds for assistance. Foreign trips for the Office of the President, payments to high-powered attorneys and building roads to nowhere are of greater significance.

PM Rowley has more important golf games to play than worry about the murder rate, the economy, the pensioners, the sick and the concerned citizens. Golf, after all, is a big man’s game. So to the rest of the population, the action of the Prime Minister signals that we can all go to hell while he plays with his friends. This is what the Rowley PNM has defined as good governance.

Dinesh Rambally is the MP for Chaguanas West