Valley: No link between crime and consumer spending

CRIME is not a new issue under the PNM and it has not contributed to the reduction of consumer spending, according to the latest Republic Bank consumer confidence index and Trade Minister Ken Valley underscored that point yesterday during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives.

He drew reference to an article in a daily newspaper in which Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, during his tenure as Prime Minister in 2001, had conceded that Government couldn’t win the war on crime because it was an international problem. Valley quoted Panday in an article which was published on November 28, 2001, headlined “Government can’t win war on crime.” The article was based on statements made by Panday at Whitehall. Panday is reported to have said then, that he didn’t think the Government would ever win the battle against crime because it was an international problem. Valley said Panday had also vowed to not give up the struggle against crime. Valley said the UNC was behaving like if crime was new under this Government when it isn’t so. He said crime was not a PNM thing, “We met it with others and are attempting to deal with it.”

To emphasise his point he quoted from the Republic Bank consumer confidence index, third quarter report for 2003, which stated that there was not much substance in the claim that the crime situation resulted in the reduction of consumer spending. Valley noted that the report in fact stated that there was an increase in current consumption by two points. He also pointed to the reduction in the prime lending rates of commercial banks from 11-11.5 percent to 9.5 percent. Referring to the actual debate, Valley said Opposition members were confused and muddled in their contributions and one formed the conclusion that there was conflict between the modern man and the confused mind. Valley said Panday had lectured to them about the development of the country’s human resources, but it was difficult to comprehend his new appreciation of the issue, when some time ago he was saying that to solve the problem from the stage of 11-plus exams was to build more schools.

Valley said the fact was, time had to be taken with children at primary school level because when they get to Form 5 they would still be unprepared. He lamented that all the social programmes needed an educational component, and it was Government’s intention to do so. He said every adult in the programmes must spend at least two days a week in classes, because when one talks about human development, they also spoke of competitiveness. Valley said being serious about HR would give a country critical advantage.