Rowley: Govt has collapsed on job
Gail Alexander (T&T Guardian)
Published: Sunday, October 26, 2014The Government has collapsed on the job and abandoned the Parliament which is not functioning and areas of accountability there are not being used, Opposition Leader Keith Rowley said yesterday. He made the point to reporters following the first day of the People’s National Movement’s convention at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. The delegate meeting was held to discuss and make recommendations for the opposition party’s Vision 2030 document. This will be the basis of its 2015 general election manifesto. Expressing concern about the non-resumption of Parliament after a break over the last three weeks, Rowley said Government had changed strategy and was “now setting out to brainwash the population.” “The Prime Minister is speaking about herself, what a wonderful Prime Minister she is, how democratic she is and how participatory she is and they’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on their ‘education campaign’ in T&T. You can’t turn on a television without the Government’s agents being in your face telling you about the Government ‘working for you’ and at the same time the government has abandoned the Parliament.”
Rowley added: “So I want to draw to the population’s attention that the Parliament isn’t functioning. The Government is absent from the job and areas of accountability aren’t being utilised (such as) the question time for the Prime Minister and the Opposition’s Private Members Day—we haven’t had that. And the Government is just happy to go along as if these were not part of our expectations,
“This Government has made it clear, it doesn’t pay attention to good order and all the Opposition can do, is draw to your attention that the Government has collapsed on the job. These are matters the population will have to take into account when you deal with your managers who are now mismanaging our affairs,”
Commenting on the impasse between Government and Highway Reroute Movement leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, Rowley said this was “an on-going tragi-comedy between the Prime Minister and persons they mislead. They’ve hoisted themselves on their own petard.” “The tragedy of this, whatever it ends up as—the expense to the state and cost to taxpayers—this is as a result of persons…members of the Government, when they were in opposition, they took irrational and misleading objection to some elements of national development.” Rowley said the PNM was amazed to see Government spokespersons “paying money to tell the population what wonderful benefits will come to the people of the areas by passage of a highway.”
Rowley said these were the same people who, while in opposition, had organised pressure groups to prevent highway creation in that part of T&T by the PNM since they felt it would have served the PNM politically. “They had no difficulty organising resistance and obstruction then. Now they’ve created this monster, they’re now telling the population what wonderful benefits will come from a highway there now,” he said. Rowley also said it would not matter when Government’s procurement legislation returned to the Parliament (for final deliberations) since Government had “carefully ensured they did all their contract misconduct outside the existence of the remit of the new bill. If they pass it tomorrow, it means all the contracts they’ve mishandled and handled, won’t be subject to the provisions of this law, so it doesn’t matter if they pass it or not.”
Addressing delegates after deliberations by seven groups on various policy issues for governance, Rowley dismissed a social media caption about him and “big shots” at the Hyatt. He said the party would take all recommendations expressed yesterday to the general membership when the second leg of the convention is held on November 16 at the Queen’s Park Savannah. He said the hierarchy will “tweak, prune and massage” recommendations made yesterday. He said yesterday’s event showed those who felt nothing was happening in the party that things were happening.
After November 16, he said, PNM’s working group would be in a position to produce a work programme for government.
That exercise will dovetail with PNM’s screening sessions. Rowley said PNM held no malice or ill will towards its political opponents since they, like the PNM, were also offering themselves for service. PNM chairman Franklin Khan said just over 700 delegates attended the event and it was “probably the largest ever PNM delegate convention.” He called for party members to mobilise 10,000 to attend the November 16 event.
Rapid rail over PBRDiscussion on a mass transit system moving above the Priority Bus Route was among issues discussed at yesterday’s delegates’ convention, PNM PRO Faris Al-Rawi said. Also discussed were the movement and circulation of what he deemed the “rapid bus transport system.” He said delegates sanctioned a feasibility confirmation for the rapid rail system. A federal type of self government for Tobago was also recommended, as well as allowing the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) hands-on authority on port operations and broadening the air and sea bridge.
Al-Rawi said there was heated discussions on local government versus central government, national security, education and infrastructure development out of the 14 policy areas deliberated upon. Delegates were concerned about the need to ensure harmony on roll-out of expenditure from central government to local government and other aspects. National security deliberations included on strengthening the Police Complaints Authority and the appointment process for a police commissioner. A “real” form of diversification for the energy sector was suggested.