There is little doubt that the Government has the constitutional right to establish an office of the Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) in Tobago without any reference to the local government body or the Member of Parliament. And there is no doubt that the Prime Minister has the constitutional right to "fully operationalise" the office of the Prime Minister in the sister isle in order to ensure the faster delivery of services to Tobagonians. It may be argued, therefore, that the Government has a right to establish a CEPEP office in Couva or Claxton Bay and the Prime Minister has a right to set up a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister in Penal or Pleasantville. The question is not whether the Government has a right to do these things but whether the establishment of a CEPEP office and a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister in Tobago are the best and most efficient uses of taxpayers' resources and the process by which those decisions are taken. An administration that insisted that the economy of the country cannot afford to pay the 33,000 citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who work in the public service and at statutory authorities is obviously an administration that is very concerned about capping public expenditure at "affordable" levels.
Such prudence, of course, is to be respected in a world in which the headlines are replete with the horror stories which result from fiscal imprudence in Greece, Ireland, Jamaica and other countries. There seems to be a mismatch between an administration that preaches fiscal prudence to its public servants and one that is ready to practise the fiscal expansion that is certain to result from the staffing of a CEPEP office and a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister in Tobago. While the Prime Minister may have been floating a trial balloon in her recent interventions in Tobago, if the Government is serious in its desire to pursue these matters, it should do so only on the basis of rigorous, independent cost/benefit analyses and a wide range of feasibility studies aimed at establishing whether the creation of a CEPEP office and a branch of the Office of the Prime Minister in Tobago makes financial sense. The tripling of the cost of the Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba is too fresh in the consciousness of the population for it to allow any new adventurism in this regard.
The Prime Minister obviously has a concern about the delivery of services and the completion of projects in Tobago. We share her concerns-specifically as they relate to the completion of the hospital at Signal Hill and more generally about the cost overruns and delays that have plagued projects in Tobago under the stewardship of the House of Assembly. Blaming the current occupants of the Tobago House of Assembly for non-delivery may be politically expedient, but is not likely to unearth the root cause of Tobago's problem of delivery-the discernment of which is likely to require substantial thought and inquiry.
From her call to her ministers at the beginning of the year to make 2011 the year of delivery, delivery, delivery, it should be clear to the Prime Minister that the problem of non-delivery is not a Tobago issue alone. There are several relatively uncomplicated issues that have been before Cabinet crying out for a decision for over six months now. One of the long-outstanding issues is the presentation of an acceptable proposal to the holders of Clico's Executive Flexible Premium Annuity policies with values of $75,000 and over. Ironically, both the resolution of the Clico issue and the issues of the delivery of goods and services in Tobago require quiet consultation between the Government and the relevant stakeholders. There is also a requirement that the Government shows a willingness to be driven by feedback from consultations-and a willingness to amend its own proposals to ensure that there is a greater degree of consensus in decisions that are made and implemented.