NEED FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION

Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who on Tuesday night called on the nation to repent, should at the same time have called on some of his Ministers to provide the country and its citizens with better governance and seek to cure some of the ills of their Ministries which continue to impact adversely on the entire community. Government inaction and its failure all too often to implement policy decisions approved in Cabinet, or should this be effected, then to monitor the respective programmes arising out of these decisions, have been contributory factors to the very ills of which the Prime Minister has spoken. In addition, relevant Government departments have failed to crack down firmly on the drug trade, a major factor in today’s upsurge in serious crimes and the entry of guns and ammunition into the country. The disciplinary procedures to deal with corrupt Police and Public Service officers, who give comfort to drug importers and distributors, are cumbersome.

While we may well be collectively responsible for the shortcomings of the society, Mr. Manning has to demand better governance of his Ministers. This is not to say that Ministers are legally responsible, directly or indirectly, for the negatives of the society, but that they must share part of the moral responsibility. Better governance by them can produce needed results. The Prime Minister can begin with calling on his Minister of National Security, Martin Joseph, to stop fussing and fuming over the recent article in the LA Times on the crime situation in Trinidad and Tobago and instead seek, together with Heads of Department and of the Protective Services, to develop anti-crime fighting strategies to make the country truly safer. The Minister should not only insist on regular progress reports from the Heads of the Protective Services, but should point out the dissatisfaction of himself and Cabinet where he or Cabinet is of the view that policy decisions are not being fully or reasonably implemented. The National Security Minister should be asked by the Prime Minister, for example, to explain why enough Police patrols are not assigned to the nation’s highways and main roads to discourage the flagrant breaking of the country’s traffic regulations. He should be requested to tell Cabinet what is necessary to achieve this.

This ended, the Prime Minister should call on his Works and Transport Minister, Franklin Khan, to submit a national transportation plan aimed at rectifying what Khan described on Wednesday as Government’s failure to provide the country with a safe and reliable transport system. As Khan pointed out this had led to the proliferation of private cars on the nation’s roads and the current traffic nightmares which commuters face on a daily basis. But it is not enough for the Transport Minister to lay blame without being in a position to offer solutions. Prime Minister Manning should have his Works Minister explain the failure of CEPEP to move beyond being perceived as an example of dole, and to have him require of relevant officials in his Ministry to submit reports on charges of the existence of ghost gangs in URP or under performance in both CEPEP and URP. Social disquiet whether as a result of the drug trade, road rage, a feeling of marginalisation, being unemployed and seeing others being paid for work not done whether ghost gangs or URP can be arrested by meaningful Government action and indeed by better governance. Mr. Manning should also remember another biblical quotation: God helps those who help themselves.