Kevan Gibbs
There seems to be a national view that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s two-part televised addressed was a thinly disguised political meeting which was then followed up with a nationally televised political town meeting in Tunapuna.
All done at the expense of taxpayers with a swell of PNM party T-shirts covering the pan yard location.
So, the operative question remains: How does the national community get the other side of the story?
Shouldn’t the Office of the Opposition Leader be offered equal media time for a defence to the allegations and its outlook on the state of national governance?
And if not, why not?
Dr Rowley’s exhaustive presentation was packed with claims of bad economic decisions by then prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Many of his arguments have been strongly rebutted by many financial experts with zero political allegiance to either side of the political divide. The economic professionals suggest that the Prime Minister misrepresented statistics, offered a warped interpretation of several decisions and cherry-picked the facts.
One would argue that since we still live in a democracy, it would only be fair for the Office of the Opposition Leader to be given equal time to respond.
The Opposition Leader may also raise several other governance issues relating to Dr Rowley's PNM Government and hold them to account for their performance.
For example, why doesn’t the procurement regime have full authority and resources to investigate matters such as the sole select purchase of billion-dollar vessels?
Why can’t taxpayers get bang for their buck with respect to the purchase of the Galleons Passage, which cannot make it to Tobago during rough sea conditions? The Prime Minister’s ridiculing of critics with his outburst saying “the ferry, the ferry, the ferry” was downright disrespectful, because of the suffering endured by many as a result of the crippled inter-island service.
Where is the whistle-blower legislation, which in 2015 he claimed would be the first piece of legislation he would pass through the Parliament?
Almost four years into his electoral term, the country is also waiting for Rowley to outline what is his vision for T&T. The Prime Minister has only given lip service about diversification of the national economy.
The essential Couva Hospital remains tightly locked, even though the Port-of-Spain General Hospital has fallen into a state of crisis. The Prime Minister was informed by several people last week Thursday night during his "Conversations" that people are experiencing drug shortages and a lack of medical resources within the failing public health sector.
The shutdown of the Central Block of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital has led to a crisis in the delivery of medical services at smaller institutions with limited resources. One example is the St James Medical Facility which cannot cope with the demands on its eye clinic and also attending to people with other ailments.
Why didn't he focus his time this week on fixing this ever growing problem?
Each area of national activity deserves close and objective analysis.
When the Prime Minister takes three days to blame Kamla for not being able to deliver, he is admitting that he is nothing more than a failed leader who has lost his mandate to govern. Trying to sell the country the idea that the former prime minister wasted money is an insult to the entire nation since what she in fact did was invest the nation's money in the lives of ordinary citizens.
One should remember that Persad-Bissessar also inherited debts such as payments to public servants, the Clico obligations, and low oil price. Each administration takes over financial commitments of the previous regime.
It may well take three days for the Opposition Leader to point out the improvement in the quality of life that citizens experienced while she was prime minister.
The vital discussion must now centre on how the current and previous administrations have improved the quality of citizens’ lives. I suspect that is a conversation Dr Rowley would not want to have.
In my view, the Office of the Opposition Leader must be granted the opportunity to respond to the Office of the Prime Minister to provide her own analysis and commentary.