The meeting held at the Hyatt by Prime Minister Keith Rowley on the failure of state enterprises performance berated chiefly the management of the various bodies. Prime Minister Rowley declared that these state enterprises were underperforming and failed to submit financial reports on time.
The question is where were the newly-appointed Rowley state-board members in this meeting? These were the people who were appointed and charged with the responsibility to oversee the performance issues of these various state enterprises. These board members, in turn, are supposed to be monitored by their respective line ministers regarding their fiduciary obligations to the Ministry of Finance.
Indeed, the Minister of Finance appears to be delinquent in the performance of his duties if as corporation sole he does not ensure that these state enterprises do fulfil their statutory responsibilities mandated by legislation and regulation. Removed from his duties as chairman of the Cabinet-appointed Finance and General Purposes Committee, the Minister of Finance is supposed to have a little more free time to at least focus on this element of the portfolio.
The general stagnation in the economy and the nation cannot be simply put at the doorstep of the management of the state enterprises. The Government cannot absolve itself from its constitutional mandate and responsibility by passing the buck to public and contract officers. The Minister of Finance and by extension the Government has not informed the public after two national budgets of its income generating measures to attempt to arrest the national economic decline. Instead, various increases in taxation on the population, from online purchase tax to alcohol tax increases, seem to be the Government's only method of increasing revenues.
The issue of auditing of state enterprises, however, in fairness, cannot be blamed on any administration or management. By virtue of legislation most state enterprises are compelled to have their respective organisations audited by the Auditor General of T&T. As a result of being understaffed and under-resourced the office the Auditor General simply cannot perform its constitutional functions in a timely manner. Successive political administrations have neglected to address this very important issue. Some state enterprises, however, have been allowed the leeway by the Ministry of Finance to utilise the services of private auditing firms.
The nation remembers all too well that in the months prior to the 2015 general election Dr Rowley held retreats with his team strategising for when they entered into office. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, however, asserted during the general election that the Rowley-led PNM simply did not have a plan for T&T. This assertion appeared to be sadly very prophetic as the economy is floundering with a degree of inertia and atrophy quickly diffusing throughout the Government.
Ministers of the Rowley-led PNM Government appear to be mostly active on social media. The general inaccessibility of the present administration by the media is contributing towards the general feeling of hopelessness as there is nothing being told to the population as to what is being done to turn around the economy.
Distracting the nation with the Marriage Act Amendment and away from the serious of issues of failures in crime, economy, and health care will not work.
Devant Maharaj