Gonzales proves why PNM should be voted out

THE EDITOR: At a recent PNM internal constitutional consultation in Bon Air, the area's MP Marvin Gonzales made the ultimate case for getting rid of the PNM when he said government should not be blamed when things go wrong because they can't hold people in the various entities accountable, set terms and conditions and implement consequences for failure to execute tasks.

Basically, this was blaming the public service and public servants for his and his government’s failures.

But he failed to realise that his statement could also mean that every success the PNM party boasts about over the years should also be attributed to the very same public servants and not the government or MPs.

He can’t have it both ways.

If Gonzales, our minister of public utilities, genuinely feels this way, then questions arise:

- Why doesn’t he immediately resign?

- What is the role and function of a minister?

- What is the role and function of any leader?

Questions 2 and 3 are particularly important because while the minister went on, at the same event, to inadvertently answer both questions when he said, “Every day you hear our detractors and sometimes our supporters calling for the Minister of National Security to resign, as though by replacing that minister there will be no crime in TT.”

I think he and others who are willing to excuse Hinds and the government's stark incompetence need to be reminded that recent history has recorded that crime rises when PNM administrations are in office and the only time it fell was when Griffith was police commissioner.

It should also be noted that when Griffith was minister of security in 2014, crime also fell and the murder rate was some 200 less than the 600-plus murders recorded in 2022 under Hinds’ watch ­– the worst in our history, which was followed up by the second-highest murder toll for any year in 2023, also under Hinds’ watch. This can't be a coincidence.

Gonzales can be forgiven because as a member of this administration, he has not seen proper accountable leadership or proper accountable leaders, as all it seems that Dr Rowley, Hinds and Deyalsingh know how to do is the Shaggy: it wasn’t me!

It is also remarkable that Gonzales, in confessing to failures, essentially argued for higher salaries for himself and his colleagues.

It is quite clear for all to see that it is time for Gonzales, Hinds, Deyalsingh and the rest of this Rowley-led government to exit and let those who have demonstrated proper accountable leadership give the people what they need and deserve.

TIM TEEMAL

St James