Crime #1 issue for 2015 General Election

Whether it’s poking fun at the character “flaws” of opposing candidates or references to alleged scandals in an effort to cast doubt in the minds of voters, the political platforms are the battlefields for those aspiring to high office.

But while some voters may revel at remarks made on the hustings, many are of the view that the electorate has grown wiser and are more interested in issues and initiatives to enhance the lives of the citizenry as opposed to mudslinging on the campaign trail.

And, with just seven weeks to go before the 2015 General Election, it’s anybody’s guess as to which of the two major parties - the United National Congress-led People’s Partnership (PP) coalition and the People’s National Movement (PNM) — has the upper hand by way of plans to improve the country over the next five years and beyond.

Under the slogan, One Good Term Deserves Another, Prime Minister and UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has, over the past few months, sought to re-position the Partnership as the favoured choice, outlining what she considered to be some of her government’s successes since taking office in 2010.

She believes that these achievements, mainly in the area of infrastructural projects and social initiatives, have set the framework for continued development.

Regarding the latter, Persad-Bissessar scored major points among sections of the population, in mid-May, with her announcement of the sale of Housing Development Corporation (HDC) houses to persons who have been occupying them for over three decades at the price of $100.

“We will work through the Ministry of Housing and the HDC that every person in an HDC house for over thirty years should you want it, we will give it to you for $100,” Persad-Bissessar said at a UNC Monday Night Forum at the Diego Martin North Secondary School.

“Previously, you did not have a piece of paper to say this is mine. When you get your piece of paper now, this home will be your home.”

There are some 1,408 families who have rented a HDC unit for over 30 years and are eligible to now buy their home for $100. The residents are located in 402 buildings in some 51 HDC communities across Trinidad, which are at least 30 years old. These communities are located in areas such as Independence Square (Port-of- Spain), Laventille, Morvant, Malick, (all in north Trinidad); Pleasantville, Dos Santos Street, Lady Hailes, Roy Joseph Street, and Lisas Gardens, (all in central Trinidad); and Maloney (in east Trinidad).

At the forum, the prime minister also announced the regularisation of all squatters from Carenage to Toco, along the east-west corridor, an area which houses an estimated 30,000 squatters. “Should you give us a second term ...I promise you we will regularise all the squatters and elsewhere,” she said. “I will do it, I will keep my word,” she said.

During the UNC’s Monday Night Forum at Rienzi Complex, Couva, last month, the Prime Minister claimed that the Government had fulfilled more than 90 percent of its campaign promises, ahead of the May 2010, general election, and that unemployment, long a concern, has been down to its lowest in recent years at three percent.

She also debunked the Opposition PNM’s claims about favouritism and bias, under her leadership, saying at the Couva meeting that “no political party card,” will be needed to go to the Arima, Point Fortin and Couva Children’s Hospitals, all of which are under construction and expected to be completed within the next few months.

Regarding jobs, the Prime Minister said the PP will propose measures to ensure equal pay or women and men, noting that there were still discriminatory practices being adopted in the manner in which the sexes were renumerated.

Persad-Bissessar said under her watch, there would also be a strengthening of independent institutions of the State — the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Police Service and the Integrity Commission — in the wake of the infamous e-mailgate affair.

The Prime Minister and PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley, though, agree that crime is the most significant issue confronting the country and have trumpeted their concerns at various fora.

At the PP’s Fifth Anniversary Rally at Constantine Park, Macoya, in May, Persad-Bissessar announced that the Government will continue its offensive in relation to the country’s crime situation if it returned to power following the September 7 General Election.

As of yesterday, the murder toll for the year thus far stands at 210.

The Prime Minister said several of the 12 long-range patrol vessels, with a combined cost of US$35 million, have arrived in TT and are to be used to lock down the country’s maritime borders vis-a-vis human trafficking and the illegal drugs and gun trade, believed to be at the heart of the violent crime in the country over the past two decades.

“We will continue aggressive efforts to decrease every single type of crime,” Persad-Bissessar told supporters during the rally. On crime, Rowley promised an overhaul of the operational processes within the Police Service. He said the PNM’s main priority, should it get into office, will be to revamp the process by which a Police Commissioner is appointed.

At a one-day seminar for PNM candidates and campaign managers at the Ortinola Great House, Maracas, St Joseph, in June, Rowley said he was concerned about the murders and violent crimes and felt the time had come to replace the “cumbersome” procedure for appointing police commissioners with something “more practical.”

He said the move will require fresh legislation and Opposition support.

Stephen Williams is currently serving in his fifth stint as acting CoP — a position he has held for more than two years without confirmation. During the seminar, Rowley said the appointment of a Police Commissioner fell within a broader PNM arrangement aimed at protecting citizens and the State. “Our (PNM) fundamental policy, first and foremost is improvement in security of the State and security of the persons in Trinidad and Tobago,” he had said. “National Security is our number one issue as we go forward. Because if you are not secure, if you can’t secure the person, you can’t secure the country...It was an issue in 2010 and it is an issue now but we know for sure that there has been no significant improvement in the national security challenges. So that remains a challenge.”

The completion of existing infrastructural initiatives and other new mega projects factors highly on the Partnership’s development agenda if elected for a second term. Some of the proposed flagship projects going forward for her administration include the San Fernando Waterfront project, a marina in Tobago, the San Fernando to Mayaro Highway, a causeway to Chaguaramas, a medical tourism hospital along the East-West Corridor and dry-docking facilities at La Brea.

The southern community, home to one of the country’s major tourist attractions - the Pitch lake - is said to have one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country.

But Rowley has promised to reverse this status through the creation of a plywood industry, a move which, he said, will enhance the area and create jobs for residents.

Rowley said the area had one of the best ports in TT which will be used for importing the material to be manufactured for export. He also said he will hold discussions with First Citizens to open a bank in the area.

Although the PP was pleased with its success, particularly in infrastructure, the PNM has over the last five years, expressed grave concerns about transparency and accountability in the Government’s major development initiatives.

And it’s against this backdrop that Rowley plans to establish a general accounting office as a mechanism for policing State projects, which, he hoped, also will serve as a blueprint for future governments.

The general accounting office, Rowley envisaged, will provide for greater oversight in the spending of tax dollars. He said the work of the Auditor General’s Department needed to be bolstered.

“The Auditor General’s Department, under the Constitution, is meant to oversee and report on what happens with the allocation after each parliamentary session. We need to get better than that because experience has shown that the Auditor General arrangement comes in after and is usually not taken as seriously as it was intended to be in the very early days,” Rowley had said during a PNM forum at the Radisson Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, in May.

“We have come a long way in the last 30 years using the same structure for dealing with much, much different assignments and now, with a budget of many tens of billions of dollars, it is now the practice where people are spending money and there is no effective oversight with respect for value for money and usually we only hear about what is spent when some scandal breaks in the paper or some politician goes on a platform and buss a mark.”

Staying on the issue of accountability, Rowley said enhanced compensation packages for full- time MPs will be a new feature of a PNM-led government — a move that will likely engender sound representation. In this regard, Rowley pledged to take a hard line on “moonlighting” MPs.

“I am telling you (candidates) now, if it is your intention to serve as a Member of Parliament and moonlighting somewhere else, now is the time to get out,” he said at the Ortinola Great House seminar in June. “We screened (candidates) early to give ourselves the opportunity to make changes and adjustments.... If you are not available for full-time service to the Parliament then do not go any further than now. Because once you get elected, you will be required to serve full-time and be paid accordingly.”

Rowley has also promised a smaller Cabinet (the current PP Cabinet comprises 41 members), the establishment of some form of Revenue Authority to collect land and building taxes and an initiative to traffic congestion.

He also said the PNM would do away with the Local Government Ministry by giving more responsibility to regional bodies.