Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley is praying for divine intervention to save T&T in the New Year. He said so during his final news conference for the year at his Charles Street office, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. "We hope that God puts a hand and guides us away from the pit that these people are taking us to," said Rowley, who claimed governance in T&T moved from a state of aggravation at the start of this year to one of desperation and despair on the eve of 2011. "Having started with aggravation, we are ending the year in despair. The Government is in disarray, the ministers don't know their jobs and our business is being mismanaged," the PNM political leader stressed.
Rowley said the United National Congress-led coalition Government did not know how to govern the country as it had made the most mistakes any T&T Government had made in a six-month period.
He said the improvements the electorate voted for in the governance of the country in the May 24 general election have not materialised. "What we have seen is scatter-brained governance. We've seen a Prime Minister who believes in public relations gimmickry. We've seen ministerial cross talk that is disquieting and disturbing," he said. The result, he added, was that the Government was "not in control of the country, our business was not being properly handled and we are worse off today than we were in January."
Rowley also slammed coalition partner, the Congress of the People (COP), saying that party had become an apologist for the UNC. Commenting on the Caribbean Airlines/Jack Warner stand-off, Rowley denied he was supporting any party in the fiasco. The George Nicholas-led board and Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner have been at odds over a Cabinet decision to buy new aircraft at a cost of $1.2 billion. Rowley questioned the usefulness of such a purchase if the state-owned airline made a profit for the last fiscal year of $500 million.
Rowley questioned how the adviser to Cabinet, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan was asked to advise the CAL board. Rowley insisted "there is more in the mortar than the pestle." He dismissed a suggestion by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other ministers that the decision to buy the aircraft was based on earlier actions of the former PNM-appointed CAL board.