Emailgate is an example of how corruption and inefficiency are plaguing T&T's economy, Dr Rolph Balgobin, president of the T&T Manufacturers' Association (TTMA) said yesterday.
"The emailgate affair is an excellent case because it was an investigation that was supposed to have been completed a long time ago. That it is not done is a terrible indictment. After millions of dollars spent on policing and national security the citizens of this country cannot know that the allegations are true or not.
"Look at the recent Auditor General Report on many millions of dollars of questionable transactions. I am certain that no investigation has been opened on anything," he said yesterday at a seminar on Crafting of the National Competitiveness Strategy of T&T at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope.
Balgobin said the high level of crime is a deterrent to foreign investment in the economy.
"If we want more business we need to stop people having to worry about the security of their staff. This has no value and dissipates energy, attention and critical resources. In other words, it creates an inefficient level at the micro level."
To add to crime, Balgobin said, corruption is another set back for T&T.
"I often marvel at how one has to ask favours from public officials for what in fact is their job. It makes me wonder what the optimum level of bribery is. Inefficiency breeds bribery and corruption. No one would pay a bribe unless they feel they have to," he said.
Balgobin said one of the solutions to the problems in T&T is for the state to move back and let the private sector take the lead in the economy.
"There is a state sector that is both too large with an astronomical wage bill and exceedingly corrupt, according to the Auditor General's recent report. Companies have a critical role to play in the competitiveness and development of T&T. How do we do that in an economy structured to export oil and gas which clouds out everything else?"
According to the TTMA president, there is also a "bankruptcy of ideas" in T&T which has caused over reliance on the energy sector and even that sector has not been very innovative.
"More than 100 years after the first oil well was drilled, it is hard to find ten locally owned energy companies which are competing regionally and globally," he said.
Despite T&T's weaknesses, Balgobin believes the country is "not doing badly."
"We have many of the ingredients to be successful. We need courage, leadership and good governance," he said.