Dear Sir
The Keith Rowley-led administration has failed miserably with this COVID-19 pandemic. No amount of fawning by the Fourth Estate and others will change the fact that post-COVID-19, we face multiple crises – no FX, diminished HSF, unsustainable debts, a collapsed energy sector, increased inequalities, rising unemployment, escalating crime, divided citizenry, health, education and agricultural sectors in deep crisis. I offer ten reasons for Rowley’s failing grade:
Ignoring the COVID warning signs until too late
The opposition United National Congress (UNC) tried in vain to raise the matter in parliament starting January. The health ministry knew about the crisis yet did absolutely nothing. Had Rowley begun planning since January we would have been much better prepared. Like Donald Trump, he missed the ball. Unlike Trump, he gets away with it.
Hosting carnival should have been fully discussed
New Orleans, a major US hotspot, has admitted in hindsight they should have cancelled Mardi Gras. Had we discussed it in parliament in January the country would have been fully apprised of the facts and an informed judgment made on hosting the event and/or minimizing risks?
Rushed policies without due consideration
Policy decisions like “pandemic leave” or “online teaching” and “ever-expanding limited SOE” are announced seemingly in haste through well-choreographed news conferences. We had inadequate notice of our border closing, MPs are given changing directives concerning food cards and each day we witness incremental changes on business openings.
Abandoning our citizens in distress abroad
Our elderly in Barbados were abandoned by callous Stuart Young. FX earners in Surinam after being fired at Petrotrin were abandoned. Magarita seems forgotten. Our 300,000 plus citizens in the Diaspora may well be re-evaluating the value of Trinidad and Tobago passport while Barbados’ “Market Vendor” articulates daily the regional disgust at Trinidad and Tobago’s abandonment of its distressed citizens.
Policies based on inadequate testing
Our testing is woefully inadequate. Based on tests done per million of the population we do at least one 28th the number done by most US States – and they complain of the need for more. New Orleans every two days does more tests than all we have done since the crisis started. Our very limited proposed community testing is a joke given limited numbers.
CARPHA, based on the number of tests conducted, has severely underserved the region
A comparison of the total number of Trinidad and Tobago deaths from January to March 2020 with those of a similar period in previous years will tell us the real impact of Carnival on community spread. But that information Rowley will never provide … and our media will never demand.
Raiding the HSF at the first opportunity and increased borrowings
Rowley seemed most anxious and happy to raid the HSF as if waiting for the chance. When this crisis is over, we will have a severely depleted HSF especially as its value has been reduced given recent stock market realities. We are also racking up unsustainable debt in an environment of low energy prices. Whoever wins the next GE will inherit an economic wasteland.
Increasing inequality
Post-COVID, Trinidad and Tobago will witness the greatest inequality in its post-independence history. Well-paying sustainable jobs, not food cards, CEPEP contracts, and giveaways are the only basis for creating an egalitarian society.
The ill-conceived economic advisory team
- Who on this team can give effect to Lloyd Best’s challenge of linking agriculture to our school feeding program to change our eating habits from KFC while saving FX?
- Who has the out of the box capabilities to develop green, blue or silver economies?
- Who has knowledge of the digital economy relevant to future job markets?
- Who can revolutionalise our school curricula for post-COVID global job realities?
- Who has the performance record to seize this golden opportunity to diversify our plantation economy?
- Who can incorporate our Diaspora in our development thrust?
- Who can recast our culture and sports to replace say 40 percent of our energy earnings?
Rowley’s “top-down” approach is divisive, excludes the opposition and does not engender buy-in.
We are now governed by executive fiat through daily press briefings, by a tiny cabal of Peoples National Movement (PNM) front-liners who by – upbringing, arrogance, and lifestyles are disconnected from the rank and file Trinidians.
Openness, transparency and accountability are forgotten in this crisis
Where are the accounting mechanisms for the $10 billion withdrawn from the HSF? Or the additional ten billion being borrowed?
Rowley has failed us miserably in this crisis. He has not learned the lessons of the past. His handling of this crisis suggests we are doomed to a future of mediocrity, underperformance, rising poverty and a deficit in visionary thinking and implementation options Like sheep we blindly applaud this abundance of failures.
For these reasons, unlike the fawning Fourth Estate and others who should know better, this Rowley-led administration deserves a well-earned failing grade.
Rodney Charles
Member of Parliament, Naparima
