A matter of transparency

It has been argued that the then UNC-led government and the PNM-led government before it, lost the General Elections of 2015 and 2010, respectively, over the issues of transparency and accountability.

Both regimes were given failing grades with regard tot he management of the nation’s finances.

Governments must always be challenged to be accountable and transparent and must be made to pay the political price for any financial corruption whatsoever. The electorate must send clear and unambiguous signals that a lack of financial transparency and accountability will not be tolerated.

Given the importance of the principles of transparency and accountability, our country ought to broaden what these terms could and should refer to and, at the same time, also measure the performance of any government on a broadened understanding of these maxims.

We need a paradigm shift as regards what we describe as the nation’s resources. We have to redefine our wealth and, in so doing, see wealth as also arising from people-generated ideas, innovation and creativity. In the present recession, it appears that Trinidad and Tobago is on slow-down mode because of reduced national revenue. A country is not run on foreign exchange alone.

We need to hold any government also accountable for lack of transparency and accountability with respect to the generation of ideas, innovation and creativity. The management of these social processes are just as important to an economy as the management of foreign exchange. There are noncash drivers of an economy. Said differently, we need a broader vision of what transparency and accountability should refer to.

The present government must be called to task for a lack of transparency as regards its ideas, innovation and creativity for developing the economy and moving it away from gas and oil dependency.

The population must demand the generation and circulation of ideas, policies and programmes to diversify the economy.

It is a gross insult to our highly educated population to hold that because of reduced revenue from oil and gas, the economy is doomed. We need to think out of the ‘oil-and-gas box’.

There are some government ministers whose names the country has forgotten: they appear to have gone missing in action.

This is because the government is either not generating ideas, policies and programmes for economic diversification, or they are not properly communicating them.

The Dr Rowley led administration must inspire confidence through communicating a clear plan going forward. The government must tell the population what is going to be done to diversify our economy.

Indeed, it needs to indicate how this is going to be done and in what time frame.

Our country must broaden the vision of what it means for a government to be accountable and transparent.