With its pants down

THE GOVERNMENT was caught with its pants down in the Senate on Thursday and its subsequent attempts to cover up the embarrassment not only failed to achieve the desired result but actually created more confusion. The exposure was made by Opposition Senator Wade Mark who interrupted the Budget contribution of Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education Danny Montano, asking him to clarify an item in the Budget document “Social and Economic Policy Framework 2004.” The UNC senator read from the document’s policy objective for the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts (COSTAAT) which, under Principal Strategies and Measures, reads: “Establish targetted recruitment progammes for male Trinidadians aged 17-24, especially Afro-Trinidadian males.”

In calling on the Minister to clarify this stated policy objective, Senator Mark wanted to know whether it was a typographical error or a deliberate attempt by the PNM government to discriminate. “Is this a Cudjoe quota society?” he asked. To begin with, we must say that we are quite alarmed that, in planning for the establishment of COSTAAT, which is to form the nucleus of the country’s new university, the Government should see the need to have such racially biased recruitment programmes. We believe that, in a multi-ethnic society such as ours, where every creed and race should find an equal place, such programmes will inevitably be seen as inequitable, discriminatory and provocative and will only lead to an aggravation of social tensions which are already a serious cause for concern. Such a policy, in fact, will only provide further ammunition for those bent on fomenting racial strife in our country. In any case, we see it as totally unnecessary in a society such as ours where educational opportunities are open and available to all from the earliest stages and where progress and success depend on personal effort and application.

In our view, all that is required as far as tertiary education is concerned is to ensure that the procedures for entry are manifestly fair, that they operate without bias or prejudice, that the set criteria are applied equitably to all applicants. Secondly, we are quite surprised by the Minister’s response to Senator Mark’s demand. Mr Montano actually defended the policy by saying: “That is where we have a major social problem. It’s not affirmative action but a social action to deal with a social problem. Any segment of this society that needs special attention will get it. There is nothing strange or sinister about it.” If that is so, then will the Government explain to the country exactly what is the nature of this “major social problem” it sees among Afro-Trinidad males that would require COSAAAT to have such a special recruitment programme? But later along came Senator Conrad Enill, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, not to offer any explanations but to create more confusion by declaring that the policy expressed in the Government’s Social and Economic Policy Framework did not in fact reflect Government’s policy and now they wanted to correct it. Virtually contradicting his ministerial colleague, Senator Enill said “all the programmes that we have are for all the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago,” and, therefore, they would want to delete the part about “Afro Trinidadian males.” Senator Enill has sought to pull up the Government’s pants but many, we are sure, will still wonder about what the slip has revealed.