Finally, Dookeran speaks

Dookeran made the comment during his 75-minute long maiden Budget response as leader of the COP.

Haunted by last year’s fiasco, in which he lost the chance to make a contribution to that Budget debate, Dookeran was quick on his feet and was successful in catching the Speak-er’s eye. He immediately waded into Manning, telling him his early Budget was a “quick fix” re-election ploy.

He bade “farewell” to Manning, who he said had come “to the end of the line” adding that the COP was ready to form the next government and in so doing,“reduce the cycle of poverty” and shift expenditure from “mega buildings and palaces” to people living below the poverty line.

Dookeran accused Manning of not telling the people “all” about the Ryder Scott Report and of marginalising members of Parliament who are yet to see the document which warns about depletion of the oil and gas reserves over the next 12 years.

“If the CEOs of BP and British Gas have the full Ryder Scott Report, why has it been withheld from MPs, the media and citizens?” he asked, adding that it was just another example of Manning’s marginalisation of the Parliament.

Dookeran, whose speaking time was extended on a motion by Manning, for some 30 minutes, told the House that the integrity of the country’s system of politics and government was under threat.

He accused Manning of allowing the nation’s business to be led without any accountability, by an “energy cartel” that comes from the “old boy’s network” and demanded that Manning “declare the assets and interests of the members of his energy cartel and come clean with the people of TT.

“Are we the end of the rainbow? Can the bubble economy sustain itself in the hands of the Minister of Finance the MP for San Fernando East?

“Are we to be assured by the sudden TV appearances of the CEO of BP, Robert Riley and Derek Hudson of British Gas, who intervened as high powered proponents in the critical public debate in the audit of the Ryder Scott Report?” Dook-eran questioned.

He slammed Government’s $300 increases in disability and old age pension saying it was one of the most “vexing” issues of the Budget and added that under a COP government such “abuse” of the differently- abled will be immediately corrected.

Dookeran said the creation of new jobs meant an abandoning of Government’s 2020 Vision. He added that “poor people want help to develop pride and independence not handouts” while workers want emancipation from poverty, not obligations for the generosity of the treasury.

“They want liberation from community leaders, gang leaders and drug dealers,” he told Manning, adding that “they want their children to have a future, not the need to be cutting grass by the roadside as their profession for life.”

Dookeran knocked the Gov-ernment for equating growth in the energy sector and billions of dollars with development.

“How have these billions developed the youth murdered in gang wars in Trinidad? The income of funeral agencies must have grown, but is that development? Many have died, killing each other in search of Government’s free money, is that development? How has the massive inflow of energy wealth changed the lives of workers anywhere in the country?”

Dookeran warned that people are suffering to buy food everyday adding that the PM’s $1 increase to the minimum wage, from $9 to $10 showed contempt for their worth as human beings.