Jack Warner – man of action for the PP Govt

With Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner, there are no shades of grey. Undeterred by criticism, Warner, through his recent stint as Acting Prime Minister, has carved a niche as the action man of the new People’s Partnership Government.

Although it was brief, Warner’s tenure as head of the Government was pragmatic and eventful – a far cry, some have expressed, from the rhetoric and often academic approach of the former People’s National Movement (PNM) administration.

To many, he represents a changing of the guard, a man of the people and a welcome reprieve from the bureaucracy that has long stifled development in key sectors in the country.

Others, though, have also spoken out against his perceived high-handedness and seeming predisposition for circumventing established conventions.

One political commentator said Warner’s function in the role of Prime Minister reflected a need to fully understand the protocols associated with the office.

“With our system of governance there are rules of engagement when it comes to policy and politics, that can apply private sector methodology or actions, will eventually run into the wall of public bureaucracy,” he said.

“Mr Warner must appreciate the lessons of Panday’s administration. He should be well-advised to heed such previous warnings.”

The commentator, who wished to remain anonymous, said Warner’s leadership style of “waking up and pontificating a new promise” required successful implementation if he were to be taken seriously.

“There is a fundamental difference between a public relations election campaign and that of providing serious governance that would effectively transform our society,” he said.

But Warner, always suave and charismatic, is about getting the job done. And he makes no apologies.

He has already taken steps to revolutionise the nation’s transportation system with a view to minimising stress and promoting enhanced productivity.

An early sign of the proactive stance he is likely to adopt in ministerial office was his decision to open the Priority Bus Route to vehicular traffic at specified times to lessen the transportation woes of commuters along the East-West Corridor.

Ever civic-minded, he wants to regularise PH drivers, particularly in rural areas where licensed taxis did not work and has also moved to replace the Licensing Authority with the Motor Vehicle Authority, partly to create greater efficiency.

The Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC), he recently observed, had outgrown its Port-of- Spain headquarters.

“We have to rush off to see a site in Caroni where I want to move the PTSC, from Port-of-Spain to Caroni, to give the PTSC the kind of space the PTSC deserves and to give the community the type of service that they deserve,” he said.

Warner regarded the existing PTSC office as an eyesore, but said he was willing to meet with all the stakeholders before taking it to the Cabinet to get approval.

The highly-influential UNC chairman has made a point of speaking out on weighty national issues and is also fiercely protective of the Partnership, evidenced by his outbursts on learning that Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley had criticised the reported appointment of former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nizam Mohammed as the new chairman of the Police Service Commission.

“Rowley is farse. That is not he business! When he was there he could put who he want. Now, we here, we could put who the hell we want. If he don’t want him, he could leave, but while we here we will take Nizam Mohammed,” he said in Couva while addressing supporters at the presentation of candidates in the Tabquite/Talparo/Couva Regional Corporation.

He also read the riot act to six persons who were rejected by the party as candidates and had decided to contest the upcoming Local Government poll as independents.

It is alleged that a sitting UNC MP had encouraged them.

“If they refuse to budge and fight the PNM one on one, they will pay a high price for that indiscipline. Mark my words,” he said on July 6 during an appreciation function for councillors, candidates, aldermen and rejected nominees at Rienzi Complex, Couva.

The latest NACTA tracking opinion poll revealed that Warner was the most impressive Government minister by way of performance.

According to the poll, some 58 percent of respondents approved of Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar’s decision to appoint him to act as PM during her July 3 to 9 overseas visit while 61 per cent said they approved of Warner’s performance in the high-profile post.

On her return to Trinidad and Tobago on Monday night, Persad-Bissessar gave Warner a glowing endorsement, insisting he would act for her whenever she leaves the country on government business.

“The answer is ‘yes’ on all counts,” she told reporters in the VIP Lounge of the Piarco International Airport when asked if she was satisfied with Warner’s performance.

Even before her departure, the Prime Minister made no apologies for her decision to put Warner in charge.

Questioned during a news briefing on national security matters at the Red House, Persad-Bissessar said Warner as the UNC chairman, had brought home the largest number of votes for the party in the May 24 General Election and was well-suited to perform the function.

Many had suggested that Finance Minister Winston Dookeran, who already had experience in Government, would have been the obvious choice.

Dookeran has maintained there was no rift in the Government over Warner being selected instead of him to act as prime minister.

An often controversial figure, Warner exhibited an aggressive, no-nonsense approach to governance during his stewardship as Acting Prime Minister.

Mere weeks before assuming the acting post, though, he had secured a major victory after four eminent attorneys – former TT President Sir Ellis Clarke, former Guyana Attorney General Sir Fenton Ramsahoye SC, former TT AG Russell Martineau and British Queen’s Counsel Michael Beloff – found that there were no legal obstacles in him performing a dual role as Cabinet minister and vice- president of FIFA, the world governing body for football.

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley had raised the issue for national debate, saying the move constituted a conflict of interest.

Sir Ellis disagreed.

“It is difficult to see how a conflict of interest is likely to arise as a result of a Cabinet minister being a vice president of FIFA,” Sir Ellis said in his determination.

“The practical question is raised. Can a person give adequate attention to the duties of a Cabinet Minister if one is also a vice president of FIFA?

“Obviously this is not for the Integrity Commission to determine. Basically, it is for the Prime Minister to determine whether or not the minister is giving full and satisfactory attention to the discharge of the responsibilities of the ministry.”

The father of two has consistently maintained that the country can only benefit from his high-profile involvement in FIFA

The outcome seemed to infuse in Warner a renewed confidence to tackle the ills of the neglected and disadvantaged in the society, all with the stroke of a brush.“Mr Warner attempted to demonstrate that he wanted to be an acting prime minister who would not just sit in the office and run the country, but one who would be more on the ground with the people. That was a plus for him,” political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said of his tenure.

He said some people may have questioned, though, whether Warner was truly attending to the Prime Minister’s business.

“He was very visible and was anywhere and everywhere. The pros and cons would have to be weighed on both sides,”said Ragoonath.

It’s no secret that the Chaguanas West MP abhors armchair administration.

He took a keen interest in road-paving exercises throughout the country, questioning the opaque nature of some contracts under the PNM and criticising the party for its perceived neglect of rural communities over the years.

And, in a veiled reference to the former regime’s stance of hiring foreign contractors at the expense of their local counterparts, Warner insisted during a recent exercise at Calcutta Road, Freeport, that no home-grown contractor will face discrimination in his ministry, “including those who may be involved in any legal action against me.”

It was during one such exercise that Warner, in perhaps one of his more controversial statements as acting prime minister, called on contractors to pave roads for free as a gift to the country.

“It was a good move,”said Ragoonath, senior lecturer in Government at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies.

“But there is the question that when one invites people to do such things that there is a sense of expectation that they should get something later on. That is the message.”

Ragoonath argued that there was nothing wrong with citizens and business people being asked to perform such tasks.

“But the message must be clear — that this is not an investment to expect rewards at the end of the day,” he said.

Retired Head of the Public Service Reginald Dumas, too, observed the potential for Warner’s call to be taken out of context.

As well-intentioned as the gesture may have been, Dumas said, it may well open the way for unscrupulous activity by some contractors.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he said.

The UNC chairman’s statement, during a public meeting in Mayaro last Sunday, that young kidnap victim Neil Ramsubhag be considered for a national award, also had the potential to distort set laws and institutions, Dumas said.

The retired diplomat said Warner, while exhibiting a straightforward appreciation of human merit, had also highlighted the weaknesses in the existing law by saying that the Partnership Government would give the teenager an award.

“That young boy walked and survived and, therefore, we decided that we should put up his name for an award — and let me tell you, we not going to beg for it you know. Is we award,” Warner had declared.

Dumas said under the law there was a national awards committee to which recommendations for national awards were sent, considered and conveyed to the prime minister.

“But the law is flawed in that it allows the prime minister to make a final determination on who he or she wants and in that sense it is a political award. In essence, the committee is in no use,” he said.

Dumas said it was for this reason that he never accepted the recommendation for a national award.

“These awards were prime ministerial awards because I have known people who have been recommended and the names removed and those who have done political favours are retained or reduced in terms of the prominence of the award. I am not going to expose myself to that,” he added.

Dumas said the fact that Warner appeared to have superseded the work of the committee was no different from what transpired in the past (in former governments).

“Where is the change?” Dumas asked.

As such, he said, there was a growing sentiment in society that Warner’s statement may have sent the wrong message.

Warner has since denied that the award he promised Ramsubhag was the one given out at the annual Independence Day awards ceremony at President’s House in St Ann’s.

He said his intention was to give an award in the form of a Children Post Trauma Assistance Programme, established in the teenager’s name.

Ramsubhag, of Cascadoux Trace, Mayaro, was kidnapped at his home by bandits pretending to be police officers on July 5.

He later escaped his kidnappers who had held him hostage for three night and two days in the Cumaca forest, Valencia.

While he was very impressed with Warner’s demonstrative abilities, Dumas said he was a bit concerned about the language he sometimes used.

“I have a great deal of respect for his indefatigability. He is a go-getter and you have to give him full marks for that. I applaud him, but he has to watch his words and sentiments,” he said.

Ragoonath also agreed that Warner had done a marvellous job as acting Prime Minister.

“But he has to assess things carefully before making statements,” he said.