Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development Dr Bhoe Tewarie is strongly defending the People's Partnership Government from charges of systematically firing Afro-Trinis from state-run entities and replacing them with Indo-Trinis. Minister Tewarie, who is also taking issue with RC Archbishop Joseph Harris for saying that the Government and the Opposition shared equal responsibility for staging separate 50th anniversary of independence celebrations, explains that Government is trying to address certain imbalances existing in the country. The PNM, he claims, never intended to participate in the official celebrations because it did not want to make the Government look good.
Q: Dr Tewarie, this morning you made the rounds of the television stations...were you on some kind of damage control exercise?
A: (In his Twin Towers, Port-of-Spain, office Wednesday morning). No. Not at all. What happened is that a number of stations called me for different days, so I thought it would be more efficient as possible by doing all three on the same morning...a question of proper time management.
Oh. So it wasn't that you were trying to minimise the negative effects of the fiasco created by the Opposition refusing to participate in most of the official 50th Independence anniversary celebrations staged by the Government?
It wasn't a fiasco at all. In fact, the celebrations were very, very successful...
I must confess I used the wrong word, but doesn't this boycott indicate how polarised the society is today...politically?
I am not sure the society is as polarised as the politicos tend to be polarising and I think that is the problem, and the society became quite united over the celebrations.
How can you justify that position when the Opposition took the action it did and you had people like the Archbishop using that to stress the need for unity in the society?
With all due respect to the Archbishop, I don't believe that that assessment can be made that the Government and the Opposition are equally responsible. The Government is in charge...
The Government is saying they are not responsible for the behaviour of the Opposition and Opposition Leader Keith Rowley shouted he had nothing to apologise for...
Well, that is okay. I cannot speak for him and he has spoken for himself, and at the end of the day it would be the judgment of the population. My own feeling is that we tried to do whatever we could to unite the population, to tap, what I might say, is the dormant sense of patriotism and nationalism in the country. More than that, we tried to unify the country through arts and culture, through sports, through community activities, through the engagement of the military with the civilian population, and the whole idea was to bring the country together...united in purpose.
Speaking about national unity Dr Tewarie, a number of Afro-Trinis have been complaining to me that the PP Government has been sending home Afro-Trinis from state entities and replacing them with Indo-Trinis. Only yesterday, I was told by one of them: "You always interviewing them, why you don't ask why they are viciously sending home Black people?" Are you aware of that accusation?
I haven't heard that kind of criticism because there is no factual basis for saying that Clevon, but from time to time one would hear people say this Government is against PNM people or this Government is more partial to their supporters. In some instances they would say UNC or something like that. But I don't even feel that the criticism is legitimate. I think what has happened is that the Government has basically tried to redress some imbalances that existed in the society in terms of the distribution of activities and resources like water and electricity...
What exactly do you mean by redressing some imbalances?
In the sense that in the past governments tended to focus on the urban areas and by and large neglected the rural areas so that you had a lot of problems for water, electricity, playing grounds and so on.
So those kinds of community-based activities have been spread across the country some more. And we have not neglected the urban areas as we continue to do the things we need to do in areas from Diego Martin to Toco. The idea is really to spread the development pie.
Has Government learnt anything by the Opposition boycotting the celebrations?
(A heavy sigh) We have learnt a number of things, one of them is that the Opposition is not an opposition that is likely to co-operate on matters in which the Government takes the lead. We have seen that on the procurement legislation issue which they supported and then did not vote on it. In this last thing, I think they would have preferred to be in the Government at this particular time.
Yesterday, I heard a radio talk show host saying that the PNM is behaving as though they are still in office...
As fate would have it we are in government and it fell to us to do this thing properly, and by all accounts I think we have indeed done it properly. They were not happy to support the success of the events and they wanted to make sure that things did not go well.
Why do you say that?
(Gently rubbing his left eye by placing one finger through the top of his glasses frame) You saw it from the beginning when they made the charge that Eric Williams was not being included, you saw it when they started to make fuss over the use of what they incorrectly said was the national flag...nit picking really.
Then ultimately they said we were not celebrating it strongly enough because we were in the rural communities trying to build contact with the people. When we came to Port-of-Spain and things started to come together they said that we were overdoing it; spending too much money and that the Government gave me a blank cheque and so on. All of this was planned since we started these celebrations in April.
Ok. Dr Tewarie, you come with an academic background. What, from that point of view, has been Trinidad and Tobago's greatest achievement over the last 50 years?
(Mulling over the question for a few seconds) The greatest achievement is that in spite of all the tensions and differences of positions and sometimes the clash of views in the society, we have managed to have a fairly orderly democracy.
You gave that such a low rating...fair?
I said fairly because of the word orderly, but we have had a democratic system which strengthened over time, we have had free and fair general elections with the smooth transition of administrations, we have had a patient population and I would say an evolving one in terms of consciousness. They know that they can freely express their opinions and that their voices are being heard, and they can change a Government if they so chose.
And?
This feeling of pride in people's liberty and in the sense that the people do have a certain amount of power in their hands, this democracy is something we have to nurture and sustain and this in itself is a major achievement for the country.
After 50 years of independence, some of us are still saying that we have a racial problem in Trinidad and Tobago. Do you share that view?
I do not think that we have a racial problem, at all. (Gesticulating with outstretched hands) We have issues that we need to resolve and I will tell you what the issues are about. In terms of culture we need to resolve the matter of how diversity and unity in cultural terms complement each other, and I think we are on the road to resolve that now through the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism.
On the question of economic distribution, that is an important issue because the matter of equity is at the heart of that and if we can address these issues, I think it will redound to our benefit and ease the tension.
How are we proceeding to deal with that very important issue...equity in economic distribution?
First of all, by devolution of power to the local government authorities of which there is a policy document out for public comment. Eventually we are going to strengthen local government as we see the need for it from incidents like the recent flooding in Diego Martin and so on.
Very well. Dr Tewarie, you have been in office a little over a year now, what has been your most notable achievement to date?
In terms of real achievement, what we have been trying to do is basically address the issue of a land use policy that will take care of zoning in the country so that we can stimulate development.
This land use policy or the lack of it has been a burning issue over the years. What guarantee can you give that the PP administration will settle this once and for all?
Well, we have prepared the bill and it is before the Attorney General for sending to the legislative review committee. We have also established a planning task force which has been working diligently. Even if they cannot complete everything, we will make sure they have enough things that we can begin the process of transformation. We need to reform Town and Country Planning with some of the decision making to take place there.
Finally Dr Tewarie, can you give us some indication of what the next couple of years would bring us in terms of governance?
The Government is becoming stronger in terms of its entrenchment in office and secondly, its ability to cohere and to deliver to the people. More than that, to exercise power with restraint and to govern with the people. At the end of the day, we will be judged on what we have delivered and how we have governed. Where we had problems the Prime Minister has dealt with them and she has been unwilling to deal with certain matters solely on the basis of pure speculation, rumour, and allegations.
Where there is a clear cut breach, whether at the ministerial level or at the level of state boards, she has been willing to act. And all things being equal, we are heading for a second term in government.