Bharath, Browne say Budget lacks leadership

“The biggest problem we have in Trinidad and Tobago right now is a genuine lack of leadership,” Bharath, who served as Minister of Trade and Industry in the previous People’s Partnership Administration, said.

While Browne, who served as Minister of Trade and Industry in the Patrick Manning Administration, said: “The issue is about leadership and quite frankly the leadership of both parties are failing.” Both men were addressing a Post Budget Public Discussion titled Maintaining Economic Stability and Sustainability, hosted by the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry & Commerce at Chaguanas Borough Corporation Auditorium, Cumberbatch Street, Chaguanas on Wednesday night.

Browne, a former Minister in the Ministry of Finance, also pointed out that the issue was “not about creating new institutions, the issue is fixing the institutions that we have and to fix the institutions that we have we have to create mind space, we have to create capacity.” And cited the creation of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) top replace the then National Housing Authority, [NHA], saying the problems which had once faced the NHA had surfaced at the HDC. Meanwhile, Bharath said the budget document, which was “really an account to the nation of revenue you’ve got to spend and what are the priorities you spend that money for the best possible way to improve the quality of life of your citizens,” was now being used as a political statement.

He described the statement as a rehash of the 2015/2016 budget document with a face lift saying this was a ‘holding budget’ which was dependant on a price of oil moving back up to US $60 per barrel.