One hundred and twenty days after being sworn into office, UNC supporter and leader of ITEC, Devant Maharaj, issued a statement congratulating the Government on promises that it had kept. Among those promises allegedly made and kept were "Government ministries must develop strategic plans in first 60 days" and "Each minister to provide one-year action plan to Cabinet," both of which he listed as emphatically done. Yet to date (more than 300 days later) we have not seen one such plan laid anywhere.The question that I want to ask is are these documents available for public consumption?
The health sector seems to be collapsing on Therese Baptiste-Cornelis' watch and I suggest we take a look at her plan to see if she could use some help or, better still, if, based on her plan, we might be inclined to deploy her services elsewhere.Similarly, the reactionary and misnamed Ministry of the People has not yet delivered on anything that could be considered a national plan for the advancement of the poor, the homeless, the underprivileged, the needy, the orphans, on gender issues, on women's issues, on race relations, all of which are essential in a plural society whose disproportionate allocation of state resources were promised to be addressed by the speakers on the campaign trail. And again I ask, did this minister really complete his assignment and hand it up?
If so, can this document be made public so as to allow for perusal and comment?The National Security Ministry is a terrible letdown to the supporters of both the UNC and the COP who adamantly campaigned on having a solution to crime, and, barring the SIA fiasco and the now questionable appointment of Dwayne Gibbes as Commissioner of Police, we need to know: Did Sandy and Panday complete their ministry's plans as indicated by Maharaj and, if so, are they available for scrutiny in light of the worsening crime situation?
I would like to have access to all the ministries' 120-day plans, but these three are crucial to the quality of life of the people and would go a long way to supporting the competence of this Government or to being a guide as to if it should be allowed to remain in office.I would like to know where one can go to get copies of these plans, and I am sending this directly to Devant Maharaj in the hope that he might lend me his.
Phillip Edward Alexander
Via e-mail