FORMER Central Bank Governor Winston Dookeran has called on Government to make public the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the state of the TT’s economy.
The Opposition Member of Parliament for St Augustine expressed fears during a public meeting in Rio Claro on Wednesday night that many aspects of the local economy were “not right” and singled out falling income and rising inflation. Dookeran then disclosed that about one month ago, an IMF team was in the country conducting its regular exercise. This country is still indebted to the IMF. Dookeran said that while he was Governor of the Central Bank (1995-2000), the IMF report was made public. He said: “Up to today, the report has not been made public and tonight I make another call for the Government to release the last IMF report, so we can see where we are going.”
Dookeran denounced what he described as a high level of expenditure in the economy. He added that the country was not producing enough goods and services to sustain the current levels of spending.“We do not know what is the state of the economy.” He knocked the PNM regime’s ideas for building the economy, describing them as “old ideas of the past.” He referred to Government’s proposed introduction of the Student Revolving Loan to replace the dollar-for-dollar programme, policy of inclusion being replaced by the proposed setting up of the Centre for Ethnic Studies and building houses instead of communities. Dookeran also accused the PNM of being imprisoned by ideas and policies from the Eric Williams” (the country’s first Prime Minister) era.
THE Bob Lindquist Report on WASA’s $51.5 million payout to Water Farms, as far as Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh is concerned, was not a forensic exercise but a documentary review.
Singh, in publicly condemning the report at a UNC Local Government Elections campaign meeting in Rio Claro on Wednesday night, called on Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson, to track down $16 million unaccounted for in the Lindquist report. A study of the report, according to the Caroni East MP, revealed that the sum of $16 million had gone into a certain bank account, which Lindquist’s report failed to track down.
Addressing a fairly large crowd of UNC supporters, Singh said Lindquist could not have discovered any impropriety because he did not engage in a forensic examination of the accounts. Lindquist, a forensic accountant, cleared WASA of any impropriety in the Authority’s $51.5 million legal settlement with Water Farms. His 26-page report was laid in the Senate on Tuesday by Attorney General Glenda Morean. But reading from the report’s terms of reference, Ganga quoted Lindquist as stating: “We were engaged to review available documentation and to speak to personnel at WASA pertaining to the settlement amount paid by WASA to Water Farms in order to advance the reasons by WASA, in advancing the settlement amount and to conclude whether it was deemed reasonable. We did not perform an audit review with respect to WASA or Water Farms.”
Singh said that it was therefore logical to conclude that Lindquist engaged in a documentary review and not a forensic exercise. He maintained that as part of the payout, $16 million had been deposited into a certain bank account. He asked: “Why has he (Lindquist) not followed the trail of the money?” Singh said he will call on DPP Henderson to examine the report and act accordingly.
THIS country will become the world’s top producer and exporter of methanol when the M-5000 Project begins production in 2005. It is projected to have an annual production capacity of 1.89 million metric tonnes upon completion, and TT may be able to supply as much as 22 percent of the world’s methanol demand.
This was revealed on Wednesday, during a launch of the M-5000 project at Point Lisas. Delivering the feature address, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Eric Williams said it was “the first major energy project the government took responsibility of,” since returning to office. He also commended the government’s vision in the early 1980’s to build a methanol plant, though it was widely ridiculed at the time. By 1993, Minister Williams said, the government through it’s work had “set the stage for rapid expansion.” The existing five methanol plants, with two others to come, he added, places this country ahead of world producers like Russia and Saudi Arabia. Williams also gave the assurance that at both managerial and marketing levels, locals would be taking control. This, he called “a major breakthrough and an example we urge others to follow.” Williams also promised greater emphasis on “energy intensive industries” and encouraged those in the domestic private sector to become more proactive.
He expressed gratitude to shareholders Clico Energy and Ferrostal (Germany). Chairman of Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), Lawrence Duprey, called the project “another milestone in the thrust forward to have local participation in the energy thrust in Trinidad and Tobago.” Duprey said professionals from this country have working experience in the sub-continent of India and also China and their expertise places them among the world’s best. The Methanol Plant, using purged gas streams from MHTL, is expected to produce 5,400 metric tonnes of methanol per day, around double the 2.1 million metric tonnes annual output of MHTL’s four existing plants. It is expected that just over half a billion US dollars would be spent on the project. Last year loan agreements were signed with financier German company Kredianvstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfWO), for US $450 million. The project’s engineering, procurement and construction would be undertaken by Ferrostal Ag, construction sub-contracting by Proman Ag and designing of the plant by Davy Process Technologies. This group performed similar functions for the building of MHTL’s last three methanol plants.
If people felt truly involved in Local Government, they would not burn tyres to block roads in frustration at problems in their community, said NAR leader Lennox Sankersingh addressing a NAR political rally at the Beetham Estate on Tuesday night.
Sankersingh said: “The people have become alienated from the Local Government process. If people don’t understand how they fit into the process of Local Government, then when something goes wrong they will block a road or burn tyres. If you know where you fit in, how you participate, how decisions are made, when your road will be fixed (even if it is in five years’ time), you would not have to burn tyres.” Saying the NAR believed Local Government must be based on people, he said: “Development is not just about big buildings and highways but must be based on people. If not, then you could spend all the money in the world like the PNM is doing but there will be more crime and more poverty and so on. “Local government is the first step, the foundation of development for the involvement of all people in the decision-making process. We are reminding people that change is in your hands. On July 14, you have the opportunity to move this society forward, so vote NAR.”
Sankersingh also lamented that the parents of thousands of children in this country did not know where their next meal was coming from. Saying that 85 out of every 100 students in secondary school failed to get a full certificate of passes, he said: “The system is not working to bring out the best in our society. As a society, we must find solutions to our problems and the first step to this is putting people into office who you feel could do better. Change the administrators.”
MANY will find it sad, even pitiable, that the UNC Opposition, devoid of fresh ideas or a new approach, has become tediously predictable. Another example of this may be seen in the WASA-Water Farms affair which they had blown up into a public controversy. All the allegations the Opposition had made about corruption in this $51 million out-of-court settlement have been refuted by the investigation of Bob Lindquist whose report was tabled in the Senate on Tuesday. In its basic findings, the report states: “We are satisfied with the integrity of the process of negotiation engaged in by WASA and its legal representatives that led to the ‘Out of Court’ settlement with WFTL.” Having regard to the fact that it was the UNC’s Ganga Singh who had called for the Lindquist probe in the first place, one would expect that the Opposition would now accept the contents of his report and its finding that their charges, particularly against three persons who they claimed were involved in a conspiracy to defraud WASA of $17 million, were totally unfounded.
But experience of UNC tactics tells us that this is not the way they would react. True to form, the Opposition is now accusing the well-known and reputable forensic investigator of “singing for his supper”, describing his report as a cover-up and even calling for an investigation into Lindquist himself! It is a knee-jerk reaction that further exposes the problems of the UNC. Members of the Opposition must have received copies of the tabled report; they must have read the facts outlined by the investigator and the reasons for his findings. In response to their charges, Lindquist explained the apparent discrepancy between the $11 million recommendation of Ernst and Young and the eventual $51 million settlement made by WASA which he described as “reasonable.” The investigator also traced all the money paid to Water Farms as being deposited into the company’s accounts, which also cleared the three persons whom the UNC had accused of complicity to defraud the Authority.
Where then was the cover up? For the UNC now to condemn the Lindquist investigation that they themselves had called for, seems to provide further evidence of the ad hoc, vi-ke-vy, capricious, inconsistent and contrary nature of their thinking, and the action that springs from it. The obvious conclusion many will now make is that their reaction derives simply from the fact that the findings did not support their charges. If the Lindquist report is flawed, the UNC must explain to the country why. If the investigator has engaged in a “cover up” they should proceed to prove it. Surely the Opposition cannot expect to level such damaging but unfounded charges and escape unscathed. What documentary evidence did Mr Ganga Singh give to the forensic investigator to support his allegations? In light of Mr Lindquist’s refutation, can he now prove the serious charges he made against three persons, calling their names in the House, and accusing them of engaging in a conspiracy to defraud WASA of millions of dollars? Were these allegations by the Member for Caroni East not an irresponsible abuse of the privilege of parliament? Will Mr Singh now accept a moral duty to set the record straight? When the UNC was in office, the formative work in setting up the Caribbean Court of Justice proceeded apace. Now the party is opposing the establishment of the Court because it first wants constitutional reform. And it justifies this stand by blaming the constitution for the appointment of former Chief Justice Clinton Bernard and Justice Lennox Deylsingh! The plight of the UNC has now become painfully obvious; for the sake of the party and the country we would urge its members to take a serious look at themselves.
A woman in the United States was recently arrested by a policeman as she was driving along the highway of a town. It was not because she was talking on a cellphone, which in some places is against the law, nor was she driving without seatbelt, which is definitely against the law all over the US.
What she was doing was breast-feeding her baby while driving! She was pounced upon by the policeman and he ordered her to immediately pop that nipple from the baby’s mouth and put the child into the safety of its carseat. The charge was reckless driving, endangering the life of the child, her own life, and other users of the road. This is an interesting story and one can imagine the scenario that could have led this mother to breast-feed her baby while driving. We could visualise her driving with the baby in the carseat demanding food in the way that only babies know how to do, screaming their heads off incessantly. She had the option of pulling to the side of the road and breast-feeding the child. But she may have dismissed this considering that it would attract more attention from passing, gawking, staring motorists. In addition she would have considered how safe she would be because of predators observing a woman alone in her car on a highway breast-feeding her baby. So she did what she considered the next best thing, which was to take up the baby and breast-feed it while driving. The news report did not detail the outcome of this unusual event, and I have no idea whether she was called before the court and thrown into jail with her baby or whether she was just given a fine and advised by some kindly judge to travel with bottle feeds. A breast-feeding driver is clearly a driving offense which I imagine would apply everywhere.
But scanning the news these days one comes up with some clearly unusual “offences”. For example the mayor of New York has introduced some unusual new laws to say the least. You can be fined in New York for feeding the pigeons in the park. If a policeman sees you sitting on a sweet-drink crate or on a step be prepared to hand over some dollars in court. Also, it is now an offense to take a nap while travelling in the sub-way. A couple visiting from Europe worn out after taking in the city sites took the subway on the way back to their hotel. Apparently they dozed off only to be shaken awake by the subway policeman who fined them $50 US dollars (lucky for them they weren’t French or German for the mine might have been doubled), given the anti-French/German feeling in the States these days. But the unkindest cut of all was what the said mayor did to smokers, particularly reporters many of whom make their living by smoking. He has stopped smoking in bars used by said scribes, which means that bars in the area where reporters hang out are now empty. All the smokers are on the sidewalk. As one wise woman from the New York Times put it: you can now get second hand cancer simply by walking down some New York streets.
jstarr@newsday.co.tt
THE EDITOR: For the past few months, I have been visiting the National Lottery’s Office on Duke Street trying to get a copy of the past results of the Lotto and Play Whe draws, as I usually accumulate many tickets, but do not have the time to check the results daily.
But these results are never available, as the clerk tells everyone who request a copy “there are none,” “all finish,” “it does finish by 9 am,” “come back tomorrow,” or “come back next week.” Despite the pleas and offers to buy a copy of each for 25 or 50 cents or even $1.00 because it costs us at least $4 or $6 dollars to get to that office and return home, if we live in Port-of-Spain, and much more if we live outside of Port-of-Spain. Many people plead with the clerk to get the Board Members to run off more copies, or to install a photocopying machine on spot, and sell these copies, but to no avail, as our pleas fall on deaf ears.
Most sales clerks of lottery tickets in the various outlets do not have the time to check several tickets when presented, hence we prefer to check these results at our own leisure. So please Board Members, install a photocopying machine soon and provide copies on request for a small fee, or we may have to cease buying these tickets if we cannot get copies of the results to check out our past purchases.
RAYMOND GEORGE
Malabar
THE EDITOR: In his letter of Thursday July 3, 2003, appearing in the Newsday, Mr Ulric Guy of Point Fortin said “In defence of Conrad Aleong” that “the BWIA Board of Directors decision to turn its back on Conrad Aleong, ex-CEO of BWIA was reprehensible.”
Perhaps Mr Guy did not read my letter appearing in the Guardian of May 20 last when I expressed a similar view of Mr Aleong’s excellent work by outlining the several recommendations made by the CEO of the world’s largest leasing company at a recent conference in order “to succeed in the current difficult airline environment” — all of which action had already been taken by Mr Aleong and his team. It was a classic case of responsible management at BWIA.
Yes, indeed it would have been reprehensible in such circumstances for the Board of Directors to turn its back on Mr Aleong — if that were really the case. But it was not. My letter to the Guardian at that time was prompted by the fact that notwithstanding Mr Aleong’s excellent record, as I then outlined, it was the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, in its usual “wisdom,” who demanded “an early review of BWIA’s management team” as a pre-condition for any further financial support for the airline’s rescue.
It did not require any rocket scientist to interpret what that meant and, as it was since announced, it was Mr Aleong who then offered his resignation to save the airline. Now the board must find a new CEO, with at least Mr Aleong’s capability and certainly, he will come from afar, with no knowledge of the BWIA state enterprise culture and at far greater cost to the airline which is desperately trying to save money — even Mr Aleong having taken a salary cut! It was all a dreadful shame. But, Mr Guy, it’s very simple to understand. The messenger, Aleong, dutifully brought to the government a message about the problem (of a critical and strategic piece of improving national infrastructure) resulting from a worldwide industry crisis and the government ordered that the messenger be shot. A small-island prime minister brought a similar message about a mismanaged airline based in a corrupt Caribbean country and he received a multi-million dollar embrace and now a shot gun marriage is being arranged!
W WISEMAN
St James
THE EDITOR: It seems common place for us as a people to accept all the ugly things that are taking place in our society because we have lost track of the things we need to make a difference or they are not seen as important anymore.
I was a victim of a robbery on June 28, 2003. The incident took place on the streets, all my important documents were stolen, my cell phone and cash. It is nonsensical to believe that these items will ever be recovered at this time. “You should be thankful that you were not physically harmed and you still have your life, because it could have been worse.” This statement, which I firmly believe to be true, was directed at me by those who are aware of the situation. Despite that belief, this statement leaves me with a great measure of disquiet about what we, as a people, have grown to accept in all the name of self preservation and survival.
Apart from counting my losses which I have done, a lot had to be done by me to come to terms with the situation, and it is still not easy. That morning when I woke up as I usually do, I asked the Creator for protection, but I trust He knew what “went down” that day. I had some down time to examine myself and my environment. Strangely, I was just appalled at the crime situation until I was directly affected. My view that crime and its elements are by-products of deeper and more profound problems in our society has not changed; problems that we must no doubt meet and treat. Almost all the problems we face as a society start within the home. Regardless of what your station is in life it might be by circumstance or of your own doing; there is nothing that can be compared to the fruits gained by struggle and hard work. It is a sad state when parents see their children with items they know they are unable to purchase or with large sums of unaccounted money and yet still have little or nothing to say to them.
There are some instances where they are encouraged by parents. That life could have three consequences if a transition is not made “de grave, de jail and de hospital” according to the Grenadian artiste Talpree. One can hear the utterances of parents at the funeral of their children who lived a life of crime, denials of the by-product of their constructive neglect. I can only imagine what the victims and families of the endless kidnappings, murders and robberies must have endured, the sleepless nights, the fear, hate, loss, bitterness and persecution felt. It is an awesome challenge in times like these to love and trust your brother man. It is a contradiction that, in light of our economic potential, we are faced with the proverbial “elephant of crime” that seems to be putting on weight on a daily basis. There are pockets of people who are feeling alienated and ostracised since they are unable to command a piece of the pie for whatever reason. In these realities, crime, if given every imaginable rationale for taking place, ‘we can’t get wok, so what they we to do.’
MARCI ELLIOT
Port-of-Spain
THE EDITOR: It is obvious to me that some companies in this country do not understand the meaning of the term “Developed Nation Status” and one such company has to be the Cable Company. Here we are being reminded regularly by various government ministers about the 2020 Vision; and here is this company going backwards at a very fast speed.
Imagine in this 21 Century, cable subscribers are being given “cable boxes” that are definitely outdated. They overheat, they prevent you from using the features of modern day televisions ie your picture in picture, to name one such feature. You now fumble with a handful of remotes; and they have turned stereo sound into mono and have made the very basic use of a VCR, which is to watch channel while taping another, obsolete. And now to add insult to injury, some subscribers have found themselves having to rewire to receive a better picture. I am certain that many complaints have been made to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and the Bureau of Standards, about these cable boxes, but these seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Could the answer be to get one of the old rotary televisions, remember the ones in which you had to get up every time to change the channels, or perhaps sit back and wait for 2020? After all it’s only 17 years away.
C PETERS
Port-of-Spain
