Opinion-Editorial: With this new Keith Rowley Cabinet, T&T is in for a rough ride
By Gerald Vincent, (Jamaica Observer).
As expected, a collective sigh of relief has blanketed the nation following the end of the 2015 General Election in Trinidad & Tobago.
The People's National Movement (PNM) leader has somehow manoeuvred his way into the driver's seat and, because of a mysterious decision to extend voting outside of extraordinary circumstances, suspicion will forever haunt him as to the legitimacy of the Government and Cabinet he now leads.
At least half the population already sees him as illegitimate. And with a 20-year reputation of ill-tempered and erratic outbursts, serious credibility questions and a slew of allegations, Keith Rowley appears to be kicking off his term in very bad form.
Following a botched swearing-in, where somehow Rowley thought it sensible to swear in Cabinet members before he himself took the oath of office, Rowley read from a speech prepared for him by someone who clearly doesn't understand the man.
While one would want to think that his election proves some kind of political superiority, or even the greatness of his party, that's not so. Rowley's election, in fact, proves the power of marketing, especially when his opponents put up a multi-level fight that failed to truly represent the former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and the unprecedented term of performance and delivery she led.
In Rowley's entire political career he has never taken a political stand for the people; he has never taken up issues that affected anyone but himself; he destabilised his own party (the PNM) twice, and all through his career some people have refused to work with him because of what they say is his arrogance and irrational behaviour.
His most memorable outburst came after he decided to out his former leader, Patrick Manning, because he was fired for attempting to bully the Cabinet to get his way. His then leader would finally admit to the nation that he had had as much of Rowley as he could take, describing him as a raging bull who couldn't take 'no' for an answer. It also speaks volumes about a man who has gone so far once as to accuse the former Government of conspiring to murder a journalist. When it was later found that his e-mails never actually existed, Rowley and the PNM immediately went silent and avoided questions on what became known as "email-gate".
Building on this dubious reputation, during his campaign Keith Rowley made a number of promises, including the end of the Ministry of Local Government, an increase in salaries and benefits for himself and his Cabinet ministers, widespread spending cuts, and that elected members of parliament would be made to do the work of the people they represent, and not all occupy Cabinet positions. With mere days since the general election, Rowley has already recanted on some promises. He has taken the local government ministry and combined it with a Rural Development Ministry, placing his long-time friend and PNM chairman, Franklin Khan, as minister. Trouble is that the former Persad-Bissessar Administration undertook a comprehensive rural infrastructure transformation programme that leaves little work to be done in rural areas.
On his platform, Keith Rowley also boasted of the diversity of his party, one that has historically been seen as pro-Afro based political organisation. He also boasted fresh new faces, but the line-up of his Cabinet, so far, tells another story. It is, perhaps, another indication of a Government term that can be expected to be filled with broken promises and even repeats of the PNM's history of discrimination.
A look at his Cabinet tells a story. Faris Al Rawi, an old party stalwart who supported Rowley's bid, is now attorney general, but the more popular newcomer, Stuart Young, is Al Rawi's junior.
Clarence Rambharat, who was resoundingly rejected by the Mayaro electorate, has been appointed minister of agriculture, as if to say to the people, "No one really cares what you think."
Camille Robinson Regis, who was forced out of the Manning Government for misusing a Government credit card, has been returned to the senior post of planning and development minister.
Fitzgerald Hinds, who has long enjoyed his reputation of being anti-Indian, has been appointed to the mega Ministry of Works and Transport. Hinds has never been able to explain how he was able to afford a TT$14-million (US$2M plus) mansion in the upper-income Maraval district.
Colm Imbert has been appointed minister of finance. Imbert once almost faced criminal negligence charges for building a Grenada stadium that started falling apart, risking the lives of thousands. This is quite like the Tarouba Stadium project started by the PNM, where the budget was increased five times without the project being completed. The stadium is now considered unsafe.
Marlene McDonald has been appointed minister of housing and urban development. While in Opposition, she established a reputation as being resentful of development projects in communities outside of Port of Spain and the East/West corridor. She led the rebirth of the phrase "south of the Caroni River". She has also never fully answered for having her husband benefit from hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant funding under a paper NGO during the previous PNM Government.
Shamfa Cudjoe has been appointed minister of tourism, coming on the heels of years in Opposition singing the song of victim for Tobago, claiming the island should have been getting more out of the national budget, but refusing to entertain questions on what Tobago stands to contribute to the treasury.
All of these appointments, notwithstanding, Avinash Singh who has been the lone East Indian front-liner for the PNM, having fought and lost two general elections in the name of the PNM, has been given the most junior government post of parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture. Singh's position is even junior to a Tobago PNM MP, Ayanna Webster, who was appointed -- seemingly as an afterthought -- as a minister of state in the Office of the Prime Minister.
The Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs has been handed to an unknown in Nicole Oliveirre. The previous PNM Government left the energy sector in shambles, with oil and gas production plummeting, and with the exploration and energy services subsectors almost fully collapsed. With a newcomer now having to sit across negotiations with some of the most powerful CEOs on the planet, we await news of a reversal of the growth achieved in the past five years.
And who can forget Maxie Cuffie, the new minister of Rowley's information machinery. As a former editor of a weekly tabloid, the TnT Mirror, one wonders whether government information will be similar to the stories in the highly distrusted tabloid.
Trade and industry is now taken by Paula Gopee-Scoon, one of Trinidad & Tobago's most failing foreign affairs ministers under a previous PNM Government. We await news on what will happen to undo the work done by former Minister Vasant Bharath who earned the reputation of having the Midas touch by revolutionising the ease of doing business in Trinidad & Tobago.
What these appointments and revelations all point to is that Trinidad & Tobago is in for a rough ride. Not because of low energy prices, but because Keith Rowley's Cabinet has brought together the usual suspects who, all told, spent over $400 billion between 2001 and 2010 and, by the time they left office, left behind incomplete, over-budgeted projects, with contractors being owed billions. The PNM has never been able to manage the economy outside of boom conditions, and Trinidad & Tobago might just have made its final fatal error by putting the PNM to manage what will certainly be the decline of what could have been a great nation.
Already, people are asking, "Oh, my God, what have we done?"
Gerald Vincent resides in Trinidad and Tobago. Send comments to the Observer or to geraldvincent.tt@ gmail.com.