People's Roundtable calls for migrant-worker policy, tax reform

Daycare facilities for workers at government offices and large businesses, lower prices for schoolbooks, afterschool apprenticeship programmes and laws to regulate political party finances and campaign finances were some of the recommendations made by The People's Roundtable.

On September 7 at Cipriani College of Labour and Co-Operative Studies in Valsayn, TPR held a virtual launch of the Report of its Civil Society Crime Summit that was held in January.

In his address, the group's convenor, David Abdulah, said crime and violence in TT are not just about what the police are doing, which seems to be the popular narrative. The TPR believes a holistic approach is required to understand the nation's crisis.

Abdulah charged that the elite lacked all conviction to do anything serious about crime and violence. He said that was because they were part of and benefited from the status quo.

"Clearly, TT lost its innocence a long time ago and is a place where people no longer feel safe. Everything is collapsing around us," Abdulah said.

He said the structure of the economic system had remained unchanged in 62 years of TT's political independence.

"So we continue to have a system where there is unequal wealth and income distribution and opportunities."

He added that the system of governance did not enable people to be part of decision-making.

"It knocks out citizens from decision-making, and those in office, whether the technocratic level or the political directorate level, seem unable to function out of the box.

"We have a culture of violence which is not new, and we have to recognise that slavery and enslavement were extremely violent and going back further than that was the genocide of the First Peoples."

Abdulah added that the history of colonialism had been a history of violence, and it was perpetuated generation after generation.

TPR was formed in October 2023 with 13 civil-society organisations like the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) aiming at mobilising communities to lobby the government to effect change.

General secretary of the JTUM Ozzi Warwick presented the recommendations into two categories, immediate and short term as well as medium term.

He said the organisations did not look at the long term because they felt that the crime situation was so urgent that they needed to tackle it immediately.

On education, Warwick said vocational training courses and apprenticeship programmes should be developed to include existing but underdeveloped programmes in the short term. He also called for after-school programmes to build community spirit and unity.

In the medium term, he added that TT needed a new policy on education that would reform the teaching and learning process and shift away from the passing of the examinations culture to a culture of learning.

He went on to say there was a need to close the gaps in youth unemployment and under-employment.

"At least implement, develop and implement a migrant worker policy. We want transparency and accountability in project planning and implementation.

"We want income-tax reform — progressive tax system, who has more corn feed more fowl. We want greater equality to access foreign exchange, and we must deal with the growing monopolies, for example supermarkets. We want the judiciary to address sentencing guidelines like repeat offenders and standardised penalties."

He said the group also recommended social workers in communities to identify and find solutions to poverty and children in crisis.

Warwick said, "We need to increase state resources for the development of communities so that the gangs' role as a state within a state is eliminated. As it relates to creative imagination, culture and the arts, we propose that focus is placed on projects that enhance community building, business and employment opportunities within communities."

The group also proposed 50 per cent local content on TV and radio and panyards to be spaces for learning music.

On crime-fighting initiatives, the group called for intelligence and data-driven policing and scanners at all ports of entry.

TPR recommended that the financial intelligence unit within the Finance Ministry be established as a standalone independent body under the constitution to ensure there are no political or other pressures.

Warwick added that there was a need to pass legislation to regulate political party finances and campaign finances.

He added, "We have to improve the public transport system to reduce traffic jams. We need a very work time to enable more time for people to spend with their families."

The report is expected to be submitted to the Prime Minister and other officials for consideration.