GOVT SAYS MOST OF TT FEELS SAFE

Eighty-eight percent of the population of Trinidad and Tobago feels safe, 66 percent (two in every three persons) feel “very safe” and only six percent feels “a bit unsafe,” according to Government’s measurement of public opinon. The survey findings published in the Ministry of Public Administration and Information publication, titled Opinion Leaders 2004 Newsletter was conducted by a UK-based research firm — Market and Opinion Research International (MORI). To date, Government has paid TT$2.5 million to this company, which is on a three-year contract, to conduct research studies of “citizen and stakeholder feedback on the delivery of public services,” Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith said yesterday.

He was responding to a question in the Senate when he distributed the publication. According to the feedback, “three quarters of the population continue to feel safe in their own home alone after dark, and six in ten people say they feel safe walking alone after dark,” the publication stated. UNC Senator Robin Montano had one question for Dr Saith on this “unrealistic..self-serving” publication. “Which ten people did they talk to?” In an apparent contradiction of its figures on how safe people are feeling, Opinion Leaders Newsletter noted that 81 percent thinks that crime and personal safety should be a priority for Vision 2020. The publication stated that a majority of the people polled “expressed optimism about the achievability” of Vision 2020. Sixty-three percent believe it is likely to be achieved and 24 percent feel its accomplishment is “very likely or certain.” 

According to Opinion Leaders, the nation’s top crime-related concerns are drug abuse and drug dealing (47 percent), poor street lightning (26 percent), people hanging around in the street (26 percent) and burglaries (25 percent). The Opinion Leaders Newsletter said satisfaction with the Government’s performance had increased over 2002 to 2003, with 48 percent reporting satisfaction, while 44 percent are dissatisfied. The majority of people — 57 percent — are happy with the way democracy works in the country, it said. The publication said that 89 per- cent of the sample believe Government had achieved its pledges in the area of education. However, 70 percent feel education should be a priority for Vision 2020. Eighty-one percent are satisfied with TTEC, 70 percent with WASA, 66 percent with TSTT, 61 percent with primary schools and 54 percent with secondary schools and 58 percent with Local Government bodies.  Thirty-eight percent are happy with the hospitals and 39 percent with the police.

Twenty-seven percent are dissatisfied with the police and 34 percent with the hospitals. Saith stated that MORI was contracted for a period of three years from 2002-2005 on the following terms and conditions: Government would provide- the payment of a monthly fee of $54,250; the payment of travel, accommodation, meals and in-land travel expenses; the payment of local field work fees, the payment of publication of reports and other publicity materials, and the hosting of feedback meetings to various stakeholder groups, office accomodation and support personnel and any other costs associated with the research studies to be mutually agreed by both parties.

Saith said MORI’s target is a  “citizens’ panel” of 2,800 “randomly selected persons representative of all the diverse and demographical factors” of Trinidad and Tobago to obtain citizen feedback on the delivery of public services. He said in July 2002 the Opinion Leader Panel (OLP) was established and comprised 2,747 persons. Five surveys were conducted during the period August 2002 and June 2004. Conceding that there was no tendering for this job, Saith said MORI was the only agency considered for the activity because of its “consistent position” as a “world leader” in government consultation with the public through instruments such as the Opinion Leaders Panel. He said the local panel is modelled after the UK’s People Panel which was the first of its kind in the world and which was established in the UK by MORI in 1988. Saith said Government was convinced it was getting value for money.