Throughout much of the year, countries around the world have been attempting to balance their domestic finances in light of global economic changes. Trinidad and Tobago was no different. The difference between other countries and ours might just be that they have appointed the best man or team to do the job whereas we have the worst of the lot.
Ours is the triple-zero Minister of Finance, who at a regional and international forum boasted that he had raised gas prices twice and no persons were rioting yet. Colm Imbert was eventually stripped of his duties as the Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, an important subset of the Cabinet which approves financial matters on behalf of the government at its meetings.
The new man on the job, Minister Stuart Young, was appointed the new Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee. He was reported to have said last week that the Petrotrin Board had no authority to make any offer of zero, zero, zero to the Oilfield Workers Trade Union in ongoing wages and salaries negotiations for the period 2014 to 2017. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a government has to authorise the Board appointed to run the affairs of Petrotrin to make offers during collective bargaining.
I would have thought that the Board of Petrotrin, which possesses some autonomy, would negotiate and try to arrive at a settlement with the union. Should there be no resolve, then the line minister and by extension, the Cabinet, would seek to assist the parties in reaching an agreed position. Historically, the Minister of Labour would seek to intervene and hold conciliatory talks in this regard.
But according to Minister Young's statements, the Board has no authority whatsoever from the word go and it is the Government which has direct involvement in negotiations at Petrotrin. In the present impasses, one then wonders, why does the Chief Personnel Officer not step in to conduct the negotiations on behalf of the Government since it is the Government itself and not the Board who has authority to make offers.
Moving along, it is a statement of fact that when the PNM is in Government, crime escalates to uncontrollable and unacceptable levels. 2016 was a classic example. When they were in Opposition, the Prime Minister and AG Al-Rawi spoke about their plan to decrease crime. AG Al-Rawi continuously referred to the low detection rate and strenuously criticised the PP Government about failing to implement measures to increase same.
Today the detection rate of crimes is lower than ever before. What does the Prime Minister and the Attorney General have to say now? When the Rowley-led PNM assumed office, PM Dr Rowley publicly said that the buck stops with him. We have not heard him make that statement for some time and it appears that the buck now stops with the police service.
As for the AG, after assuming his office, he started to make slightly smaller statements than he did when he was in Opposition. Not necessarily correct statements but statements nonetheless. Oh! how the tables have turned on him. If anything, he must be credited for mastering the art of taking "selfies."
It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words and some of the pictures of the AG in the daily press is with him taking pictures of himself. These pictures speak of a man who is into show business. They speak of a person who believes that holding public office is like acting in Hollywood. He might even think that he is in Bollywood after his recent Divali duet with Minister Young.
If anyone reading this column thinks that it is about outright condemnation of these three Members of Government, I can assure that it is not. On the contrary, I am not worried about anything untoward that is occurring in the country as I know all problems will be solved in 2017 when the big talking, well-finessed AG brings legislation to amend the Hindu Marriage Act!
Rather than hold direct consultations with those who will be most affected by any change, the AG chose national consultations. Amending the marriageable ages of our Hindu girls and boys will not end serious crimes or cause oil and natural gas to boom again. But it provides a politician the opportunity to probe the headlines.
Regrettably, at the time of writing there is no good news or cheer to spread in this column. How can I, when so many families are mourning the loss of their loved ones to horrendous and unsolved crimes? Just think of the family of Shannon Banfield. 2016 has left a high level of despair and pessimism in the country. What it will take to correct this situation appears beyond those in Government at this time. Trinidad and Tobago deserves political leaders who know what to do, people who think of others before self and people who are willing to work hard.