Send PNM a local govt election message

THE EDITOR: The local govt election will be held on August 14 across 141 electoral districts in Trinidad's 14 municipal corporation electoral areas.

While this is a local elections, it will be the first time since the 2020 General Elections that will afford citizens an opportunity to rate/grade the performance of the Rowley-led PNM government.

What has this government done in the last three years of its second mandate that can be used as a yardstick to evaluate whether or not it is worth casting a vote in favour of?

If this administration is to be judged on its performance, then I posit the electorate should send a clear signal that they are not happy with its governance and use this opportunity as a referendum.

As Rowley began his party’s local govt campaign for re-election, he continues with the blame game.

What will they campaign on for this election? Will it be local government reform after they were admonished by the Privy Council for extending the term of current local government representatives by a year?

Who can the PNM campaign on? It has been almost eight years of crisis after crisis and scandal after scandal.

After almost eight years, the judiciary is no better. After almost eight years, over thousands of people are unemployed.

After almost eight years, crime is spiralling out-of-control. Records are being broken in terms of the murder toll.

After almost eight years, citizens are crying out for leadership, for good governance in the most important areas of economic management, social issues, health care, education and infrastructure development.

The PNM used the pandemic as a political problem and therefore a political opportunity, to gain some much-needed political oxygen in 2020. The pandemic is now behind us yet the country still is reeling from mismanagement and incompetence.

As citizens prepare to vote, they should not forget that this government presided over the demise of the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide. Rowley has become the lead actor in the PNM movie: Honey, I shrunk the energy sector.

Under his watch, TT's prize jewel Petrotrin was closed down. TT is forced to spend hundreds of millions of US dollars annually to import fuel which we once refined!

They will ask for your vote but they cannot give you a valid reason as to why they should be put back in charge of local government.

On August 14, use your vote, even though it's for a local government election, to send Rowley and the PNM a very direct message…you are unhappy with their performance and management of the country.

​CAPIL BISSOON

Via e-mail