It was NAR, not PNM

THE EDITOR: It is a matter of historical fact and record that one of the most oppressive actions undertaken by any government in TT towards public servants was the ten per cent cut in salaries and complete withdrawal of their cost of living allowance (COLA) in 1987.

It was the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government under then prime minister ANR Robinson that took that drastic action in Parliament.

It therefore came as a massive shock when I discovered, via a casual Google internet search, that a Trinidadian organisation is on its website ascribing this unpopular action to the PNM under the then political leader/prime minister, George Chambers.

The falsehoods are published by an orgainisation called Aspiring Minds Foundation, with a mailing address of PO Box 3453, La Romaine. Under the header “George Chambers,” at the link https://www.aspiringmindstandt.com/george-chambers, the foundation makes the following outrageous claims:

“On March 30, days after the death of prime minister Eric Williams, he was summoned to the President's House, with the other two PNM deputies, Kamaluddin Mohammed and Errol Mahabir. He was appointed prime minister by then-president Ellis Clarke. He was later told that he had been chosen to succeed Eric Williams.

“He led the PNM to victory in the 1981 general election.

“In 1982, the government had implemented the following budgetary measures:

“* A ten per cent cut in salaries of all public servants.

“* A slash in all government subsidies to public utilities (water, electricity, telephone, bus fares).

“* Elimination of personal income tax relief and allowances.

“* House rates, fire insurance taxes and maintenance repairs were no longer allowed.

“* Reduction of corporation tax from a maximum of 49.5 per cent to a consolidation of 45 per cent.

“* Abolition of tax-free bonds, credit union/co-op shares and Unit Trust deductions.

“* Phased reduction of the Negative List.

“* Non-charitable deeds of covenant on or before January 23, 1987, no longer allowed.

“*A limitation on employment expense deductions.

“* A 100 per cent increase in postage for all mail, both internal and external.

“* University of the West Indies students were required to pay ten per cent of their tuition costs for the next two years. Previously students did not pay tuition).”

The first three bullet points above constitute a gross perversion of the truth, and are highly offensive, whether from the perspective of this being a malicious effort to rewrite the truth, or from the perspective of absolute ignorance of the truth (in which case the writer should stay away from writing until he or she has learned how to do research).

All the parliamentary decisions mentioned above were taken by the NAR government a mere two-and-a-half months after it won the general election in December 1986.

The unvarnished facts are that the PNM government under the late George Chambers never took such dreadful actions. In fact, it was a PNM government that restored the salaries and COLA at great expense to the taxpayers under then prime minister Patrick Manning between the period 1991-1995.

If our parliamentary records are deemed to be insufficient as proof of the fact that it was the NAR and not the PNM that undertook the actions for which George Chambers is being “credited,” then I refer any doubters to the current political leader of the PNM and Prime Minster, Dr Rowley, who can attest to these facts, since he was a senator during that period.

I hope the author of such an atrocious and outrageous publication will move with alacrity and do the right thing by removing the entire document from the website, until such a time as he/she can afford to replace it with a properly researched and properly rewritten article.

ASHTON FORD

former general secretary, PNM