‘Bite the bullet’ now for economic gains later

THE EDITOR: It’s cricket season. Someone get a bat and give Panday and his lackeys a sound licking.

I am not one to take sides in political battles often. My only hope is for the best public management of my home, Trinidad and Tobago. While we can accept a vibrant opposition in a healthy democracy, the UNC seems to be showing a last desperate grasp for remaining in the public eye. With every word and deed, it becomes clearer that the UNC is fighting hard to keep that ever-dimming glimmer of light burning on the dying star of Basdeo Panday. We know that many Caroni workers have decades of service. We know that retrenchment means many will be out of work. We know the hardship that lies ahead for many of these people. However, we know that the government can no longer use taxpayer’s money to fund money-losing industries.

Trinidad and Tobago is no longer the wealthy and rich nation it once was to be able to afford costly social programmes. Call it “divestment” or “retrenchment” or whatever, a money losing entity like Caroni needs to be put to bed and soon. As far as the PNM following a “Burnham” policy, this is farthest from the truth. The UNC wants to keep the status quo and keep costly socialist programmes in place to maintain their votes. The PNM is doing what every industrialised country did over ten years ago — getting government out of businesses where they have been proven over and over to be ineffective. While it is a tough solution, remember Reagan’s “bite the bullet” economic policies or Thatcher’s hardline methods and how it resulted in the USA and Great Britain becoming the undisputed global economic giants they are today. Remember how the countries of the former USSR reacted on the fall of communism. Government getting rid of taxpayer supported money-losing industries should be a priority worldwide. I support the PNM for what they are doing.

Trinidad and Tobago is not made up of the people of Caroni alone. The 9,000 workers or so who may lose their jobs is a small price to pay for freeing up public funds to effect more proactive and practical programmes. By my calculations the money saved from Caroni and other money losing state industries can buy a few MRI or CAT Scan machines for our hospitals, we could even build a couple more hospitals and still have money left over to improve our schools, buy new equipment for our police and so on. Just imagine how much better our country would be with all these improvements in infrastructure.

Mr Panday stop your belly-aching, selfish attitude. Stop threatening the nation with violence if you do not get what you want. No responsible leader in a democratic nation would act the way you are doing and leading your party supporters. A leader does not need to carry out the deed. They only need to tell their followers what needs to be done. By talking about violence, mass disruption of the nation, and security risks to PNM ministers, you have said all that needs to be said for your followers to carry out the deeds; while washing your hands of the dirty work ahead. Do you not understand the destruction you are promoting? Are you willing to risk the security of the nation in order to get your name in the history books, creating your own legacy? What rewards have you promised your supporters that they too are now taking up the charge in the Senate and Parliament? Every move you make to stir up trouble is a move to deepening the roots of hate, segregation, and racism between our two beautiful peoples. Remember the average person looks toward their leaders for direction and the direction you are taking your constituency is a dangerous one. Mr Panday, please for God’s sake — think of the country first, not yourself. We have come a long way. We do not have the problems of hate, racism, and segregation that plague many multi-cultural nations. When we do hear about it — there is always a politician involved. So far as of late — we are only hearing about these doomsday scenarios of rioting, violence, and destruction from the UNC.

We should be supporting the PNM for ridding the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago of public companies that have drained the Treasury for so many years. If I were a taxpayer I would be more concerned if the government was held hostage to the point of using public money to support these businesses instead of improving our infrastructure. Mr Panday if you are so concerned, why not free up a few million dollars from your bank account to help the Caroni workers out. If you have been able to set aside this rainy day fund from your small salary, surely the Caroni workers facing retrenchment can do the same with their VESP payouts. I also do not buy the fact that the government should keep the amounts being paid out secret. This goes against the norms of political accountability and openness. To keep this information secret would open the door to future secret payouts where the government need only say it was doing so for national security. This is a dangerous policy and it must not be implemented. On a closing note — you had quite a few years to repair the constitution. Why didn’t you? Why now that you have lost the vote has it become such an important issue? Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain have similar constitutions based on the Westminster model and it works.

MICHAEL ROBINSON
Toronto, Canada