UNC, PNM MPs go back to school

FIVE Members of Parliament are going back to school to pursue an executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA). They comprise four Opposition United National Congress (UNC) MPs and a Government minister. It was not solely for personal accomplishment, two MPs told Newsday yesterday, but to better enhance their ability to represent their respective constituents. The UNC MPs identified in the study course are Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma and Chaguanas MP Manohar Ramsaran. The other UNC MP involved in the programme asked Newsday that his name not be called.

Government minister Udine Job-Davis, MP for Tobago West, is also pursuing the MBA programme together with her Opposition parliamentary colleagues. Job-Davis is Minister of State in the Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs. The course is of a two-year duration at the University of the West Indies and requires the MPs to attend classes twice weekly. One such day for classes, Newsday was told, was the “constituency day” — Saturdays. However, Sharma told Newsday yesterday that classes and assignments were not “cutting” into the time he would normally devote to his constituents. “We attend classes on Saturdays and Wednesdays,” Sharma said, “but it is my view that this programme will enhance our ability to be more effective representatives.” Ramsaran admitted the demands of the course have “dried up” all his spare time, which he usually devoted to his family.

“But the ideas and concepts I have learnt,” Ramsaran said, “are being implemented in and for my constituency.” The cost of the MBA programme is $36,000 a year and MP Sharma confirmed that one of the lecturers in the programme was St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran. Minister Job-Davis, who was in Tobago yesterday, said she would complete her MBA next month. She admitted that the demands of the course had taken a toll on her job as an MP and minister. “But it is a programme I will recommend for all Members of Parliament,” Job-Davis said.