Yetming: Manning biased against TT

FORMER Finance Minister Gerald Yetming said on Monday night that Prime Minister Patrick Manning was biased towards the Caribbean and against Trinidad and Tobago.

Addressing a UNC public meeting at Port-of-Spain City Hall, the St Joseph MP predicted that because of this bias, the country would see none of the projected revenue from Atlantic LNG (ALNG) Train IV. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced in Parliament that Government had signed the contract for ALNG Train IV and outlined the numerous economic benefits for the country. However Yetming declared: “That money will go everywhere else but it’s not going to benefit you. It is a bias of the Prime Minister to things Caribbean than things Trinidadian.”

The UNC MP criticised Manning for issuing letters of comfort to the tune of $50 million while allegedly turning a cold shoulder to BWIA’s financial woes. Stressing that he was “not defending BWIA,” Yetming said $50 million will never be seen “for the rest of our lives.” The former Finance Minister wondered why Manning seemed ready to help St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, but slow to act on the homefront. Yetming also wondered why Manning, who is also Finance Minister, never piloted any finance legislation in Parliament but left it to his “obedient servant” Junior Finance Minister Ken Valley. He described Valley as a man fighting for his political survival ever since former NFM chairman Christine Sahadeo was appointed as the third junior minister in the Finance Ministry.

Yetming said because of its parliamentary majority, Government would get the $740 million it was asking for, but warned “none of that $740 million is going to affect you in any significant way.” Touching on the UNC’s concerns about the Oil Revenue Stabilisation Fund, Yetming said the Opposition was still waiting for Government to bring legislation to Parliament that will formalise the Fund. He also wondered how many regional governments, besides Trinidad and Tobago, had legislated monies for the Caribbean Court of Justice.