I like to think that I have a basic understanding of the political movements–the PNM and whatever form their opponents took–and the challenges that faced each of them during their existence. After slavery, indentured labour and the end of colonialism, as citizens, we have all struggled and fought for our "rightful" place in society, and the political parties are our tools to do so.
As such, both parties carved out the support required to present them with a fighting chance in each election and pander to that base unapologetically, whenever presented with the opportunity.
Now this is all to provide some context for the following statements I'm about to make, because there will almost never be any decision taken by government that will garner maximum approval from the population.
But that should never be a consideration of a responsible government in the first place. Not that this has ever occurred to the PNM in any event, since they almost never seek public opinion on any decision that they are considering, but the recent disclosure of the drawdown from the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund struck a more sensitive nerve than they were expecting.
The Heritage Fund was formulated on the premise that when the fossil fuel reserves inevitably run dry, we would at least saved enough money to manage the country's expenses while the politicians desperately attempt to find the next resource to exploit. In 2007, however, the legislation was altered to include Stabilisation of the economy should oil and gas revenue decrease as a result of something other than reserve depletion.
But despite explicit details on the mathematical logistics regarding these provisions, there is no prescription regarding what symptoms the country must be experiencing before such extreme measures are taken to alleviate them.
To put it plainly, while the Minister of Finance is correct in ascertaining that he could access the fund for additional resources at this time, the perplexity of the situation never once crossed his mind and he never took the time to decide whether he should open this tap.
It was for this reason that he sought to clarify the matter in Parliament, but in doing so may have done more harm than good. In rationalising the withdrawal, he surmised that the money will be used for expenses accrued by the Government during the current fiscal year and was in keeping with the instructions laid out in the legislation.
He went on to brag about the sum, which was considerably less than earlier estimates had suggested would be necessary, and presumably processed to pat himself on the back for a job well done. But well done for whom, is the question we should really be asking.
Should we appreciate the fact that public servants can now look forward to their salaries and other outstanding payments, when so many have lost their jobs in the interim? How can he justify extracting less money to preserve the jobs of a few, when many that have already been lost could have been saved had the PNM chosen to do so.
Moreover, how do we justify that the entirety of this withdrawal is being used in recurrent expenditure, and is bereft of any investment for future earnings, whereas simply leaving it in the H&SF would have accrued income over time.
Therefore, we should not only be measuring the drawdown in terms of the sum that is immediately being removed, but also the loss in revenue that we could have earned had it not been withdrawn. The benchmark Annualised Rate of Return as reported on the latest H&SF report (June 2015) was shown to be 5.16 per cent, which means that after withdrawing US$375 million, we will also be losing upwards of US$19 million in projected returns for the first year alone, and this is multiplied exponentially each year following that.
These are the issues that the PNM fail to consider when making their decisions, as their main objectives are still focused on gratifying their supporters rather than developing a nation. They understand that as long as the country limps on without completely collapsing, no matter how battered and bruised it becomes, their support will stand firm and they can retain the seat of government. What type of nation are we leaving behind for future generations however, if we deplete all our natural resources and squander their earnings today? I don't know, and neither does the PNM, nor do they care, so long as they hold on to power.
Ravi Maharaj