UNC alleges: Corruption for days in PNM

To the constant delight and cheers of a home audience of about 100 people packed into a classroom in the Diego Martin Secondary School in Diamond Vale, the UNC for two and a half hours on Monday night made it clear that in its opinion, the PNM was the most corrupt government in the history of Trinidad and Tobago and thus, is in no position to preach about integrity or morality in public life. Indeed, corruption was and always has been part and parcel of the PNM, it charged.

Examples of PNM corruption were provided in abundance by each speaker. The UNC’s first person at the podium, party CEO and the man tipped to replace the sidelined Gillian Lucky as the candidate for Pointe-a-Pierre in the next general election, Dr Tim Gopeesingh called for an audit into CEPEP and spoke of $1 billion unaccounted for in the National Housing Authority, among other things. He made a point of retracing the history of corruption in the PNM and its million-dollar cost overruns on State projects from the 50s to the present.

He took his audience back to the days of corrupt PNM ministers such as Johnny O’Halloran and Francis Prevatt.

The man who spoke after him, UNC Chief Whip Ganga Singh, even sang a few lines from David Rudder’s "Panama," the calypso which immortalises "old" PNM corruption. Singh’s short rendition prompted PNM cum UNC stalwart Dorothy to remark, "but eh, eh boy, yuh could sing calypso!"

"That is the noble tradition of the PNM — all of dem t’ief," Singh retorted.

And on and on the onslaught went, with allegations of corruption flying, left, right and centre in the Diego Martin schoolroom.

The PNM had refused to file its declarations of assets and liabilities for 2001, while the UNC was willing and ready to file, said speaker number three, MP for Siparia, Kamla Persad Bissessar. This Government was also busy removing every check and balance in its power, she asserted.

A perfect example was its treatment of the Freedom of Information Act, because the PNM was exempting more and more agencies from the Act.

It was also guilty of "rape and pillage" of the patrimony, which she dubbed ‘Patrickmoney.’

The man after her, Senator Wade Mark, focused on the millions handed out to 250 people by GTEC, which he dubbed a "slush fund" for the Government’s family and friends. The UNC he observed was the "virtual guardian of the public purse."

Party leader, Basdeo Panday, the last man to speak, described the corruption of the PNM as "enormous" and opined that "this administration was turning out to be the "most corrupt Government TT has ever had."

The UNC had a second message for the people of Diego Martin on Monday night: not only was the PNM corrupt, it was inept, particularly with regard to crime and thus, it had to be voted out of office. Crime was so out of control, according to Panday, there was an autopsy backlog at the Forensic Sciences Centre.

TT had become the fifth most dangerous country in the world, he said. The first was Colombia.

According to Ganga Singh, TT’s Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, was a "soft man" who should "do his job or get out." Persad Bissessar wondered where the oil dollars were going, noting that the cost of living had risen to the point where people could not buy food.

"The PNM must resign and call elections," she told the crowd. And Panday warned the audience not to pay attention to the "armchair politicians" of the media who were giving the impression that the UNC was a dead party. Nothing was further from the truth because the people were begging the UNC to get rid of the PNM, he said.