Finance Minister's parting shot as budget debate ends: Kamla, UNC 'shameless'

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert says Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the UNC are shameless to present unfounded allegations against the government during the 2024/2025 budget debate in the House of Representatives.

Hinting this may be the last budget before next year's general election, Imbert was confident that based on measures in the budget and the work it has done over the last nine years, the PNM will be re-elected whenever the election bell is rung.

He made these comments as he concluded debate on October 10.

As Imbert stood up to wind up the debate, the majority of the opposition MPs left the chamber. He said he did not know why Persad-Bissessar was not there.

"I hope it's a bathroom break," he gleefully said as Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George quickly ordered him not to "go down that road."

He said Persad-Bissessar's three-hour-and-40-minute budget response on October 4 was filled with a plethora of misrepresentations.

Imbert identified the "the most egregious one" as an allocation of $50 million to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) for "fetes."

He added this was repeated "by all her subordinates on the other side."

Imbert said Persad-Bissessar's claims were also "gleefully carried by certain media houses who seem to have this habit of just repeating whatever nonsense is uttered by persons opposite."

He added the facts are expenses at the prime minister's residence, Diplomatic Centre and the OPM had been covered since 2016 without being paid by the State.

Imbert said for the period 2018-2024, Udecott was owed $53, 013,339.

"These are expenses that Udecott has been paying on its own, using the revenue it gets from the Hyatt (hotel) and its car parks and so on. It has reached a point where Udecott was unable to carry these expenses."

Imbert said Udecott approached government to cover these arrears.

He added this is what specific allocations towards the OPM were for.

Imbert said when Persad-Bissessar was prime minister from 2010-2015, expenditure under the OPM was $173 million. He said for 2015-2020, the OPM's expenditure for the Prime Minister was only $54 million.

Imbert said the expenditure at the OPM when Persad-Bissessar assumed office in 2010 was $14 million. By 2012, this figure increased to $35 million. In 2014, it was $44 million.

"It is just nonsense. There is a whole list of bills that we have to repay Udecott for the last six years."
Expenditure at the OPM under Dr Rowley, he continued, averages $10 million annually.

Imbert said, "The expenditure of their (UNC) prime minister was three times that, close to $40 million. I won't go into details about $3,000 on roti and $1 million on shrimp."

Imbert said Persad-Bissessar's claim about a $400 million allocation for construction under the OPM being for electioneering was also false.

He added that Persad-Bissessar's other claims about revenue and borrowing demonstrated that after 20 years in politics, she was clueless about how a government works.

"It is shameful after all those years in Parliament, five years as prime minister, ten years as opposition leader, that the opposition leader does not know that there are certain things which are not appropriated into the Consolidated Fund." He listed the Green Fund and the Unemployment Levy as examples.

He asked whether the UNC had anyone who remotely understood economics. "Foolishness at the highest level!"

After congratulating the Hyatt Regency Hotel for scrapping plans only to accept cash payment in foreign currency, Imbert said government will proceed with efforts to create a cashless society.

He claimed Persad-Bissessar and others feared this because cash payments were difficult to trace. Imbert observed the UNC and its "go-to commentators in the media" did not comment on any of the measures in the budget

"It was a good budget."

The House's Standing Finance Committee will begin its deliberations on the budget from 10 am on October 11. Under the House's standing orders, the committee has five days to complete this exercise.