Manning’s Budget is ‘smartman’ economics

THE Patrick Manning Administration’s 2003/2004 Budget presentation has been des-cribed as “smartman economics” by UNC Oropouche MP Roodal Moonilal, who also predicted an increase in the price of food and basic transportation costs. Moonilal addressed a small crowd at the restart of the UNC’s “Monday Night Forum,” at Debe High School, M2 Ring Road, Debe, on Monday evening. The impending Budget debate took a backseat to what the former UNC Information Minister described as a “day of shame” in local politics, namely the arrest of UNC MP’s Manohar Ram-saran and Dr Hamza Rafeeq. “What occurred today, (Monday), was an expression of State terrorism,” Moonilal charged, adding that, “the Prime Minister has not declared war on criminals, he has declared war on the people.” Moonilal said Manning had already started with elected Members of Parliament, and very soon “we will see attacks on our religious leaders, businessmen and then ordinary citizens.”

He compared the PNM administration to a reincarnation of Forbes Burnham’s regime in Guyana and Robert Mugabe’s bloody grip on Zimbabwe, saying that “hundreds” of police officers were deployed in an “obscene” demonstration of State resources. But, Moonilal reserved his harshest criticism for the Budget presentation saying that “Man-ning’s answer” to rising unemployment was an increase in allocation of some $225 million to the CEPEP programme. “This budget has no vision, no purpose and once again the poor man will have to face the added burden of increased prices because when the gas price goes up, then everything else will follow suit,” he said. In full agreement was Chag-uanas MP Manohar Ramsaran, who said that while the PNM strongholds of Laventille and Morvant had received “increased CEPEP money” from the 2003-2004 budget, UNC areas had received the “riot squad.”

However, Ramsaran, who ascended the podium to lusty applause, also recounted to the audience the events that led to the arrest saying that the time had come for the population to “free ourselves from the bondage of PNM oppression.” And in a pointed reference to the Government’s new anti-crime proposals, he said that if the events of last Friday and yesterday were to be used as an indicator, the Police Service was not only well manned but fully-equipped to deal with the increase in crime. “Let me tell you, today (Monday) was the first time I ever saw so many armed-to-the-teeth police officers in my life,” he said, adding that the “will” to solve crime was lacking in both the present National Security Minister and the Prime Minister. Also attending the meeting were Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday and MP’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Kelvin Ramnath, Chandresh Sharma, Subhas Panday and Ganga Singh.