Political parties publish glossy “wish lists” for evaluation by electors in the hope of convincing them to support their party. The UNC was first, publishing its National Economic Transformation Master Plan themed “Lets gets TT Working Again” on its website at least six weeks ago. Therefore, it has been more widely circulated and criticised. It contains a list of projects which have been evaluated by critics as “questionable and improbable.” The PNM launched its manifesto “The Way Forward” on Emancipation Day (to emancipate who?) on Facebook, and in the press on Monday 3rd, seven days before election. The PNM’s Facebook presentation is prettier and has lovely graphics. That is as good as it gets.
The document asks readers to visit government’s portal to inspect “its 3 major policy documents,” Vision 2030, the Recovery Team report and its 2015 Manifesto not to make this manifesto “unnecessarily long.” Unless I am mistaken, Vision 2030 and the Recovery Report are “government” documents paid for by the state, not the party. The subliminal message is that the PNM and government are synonymous. Really? This inability to separate the party (UNC or PNM) from the state that has caused much confusion in the past and ensured discontinuous government priorities, each party attempting to distance itself from the “other’s” policies.
That the 2015 PNM Manifesto remains relevant and must be read in conjunction with these other documents is an admission that none of the 2015 manifesto objectives have been met.
The key arguments for the PNM’s re-election are that it handled the pandemic well and stabilised the economy. However, the new Covid-19 cases signal that the lockdown was not a “cure” for the pandemic. The key strategy, keeping the borders closed, meant, in practice, closing only the airports since the maritime borders remain porous. Nor was the testing and tracing net wide enough. The likelihood is that the disease was always present, and community spread ignited when the “lockdown” was eased.
Any government would have been challenged by the rapid fall in energy prices in starting in 2014. But it is farcical to claim the economy has been stabilised “against all odds.” None of Mr Imbert’s rosy budget speech projections were achieved. The economy declined in each year since 2015 and will continue to decline in 2020 and 2021, regardless of which party is in office. The manifesto says the UNC left an overdraft at the Central bank but does not mention that the Consolidated Fund is currently in multibillion deficit. Further, whilst natural gas production increased in 2017 and 2018, it declined in 2019 and continues to decline in 2020.
Worse, the petrochemical value chain is now severely compromised by decisions made by this regime. Plant closures have resulted from a combination of low international commodity prices as well high gas feed stock prices. The ruling party may have followed the advice of professionals in its handling of Covid-19, but the involvement of politicians in gas price negotiations with the majors landed TT in the soup. Stuart Young credited Dr Rowley for his “timely” intervention in the negotiations, a claim from which Dr Rowley now distances himself.
The closure of Petrotrin and the profitable operation of Heritage are listed as successes and that a PNM government will be committed to additional investment. Indeed the PNM’s approach to the future is business as usual, although state enterprises and the public service are crumbling.
The plans centre around construction projects; highway extensions and roadway rehabilitation, housing, and hospitals. But key questions remain unanswered and unaddressed. How will the lost man hours caused by transportation bottlenecks and the tedious daily commute be addressed? What changes in transportation policy are being considered? How will the health care system be improved? Water for all? Public sector housing is a difficult proposition.
Whilst government has attempted to increase the volume of “low-cost housing,” it is anything but low cost. The flooding at La Horquetta and Greenvale this week exemplifies other short comings. If government cannot get the approval process for its projects right, what is left for the private sector?
Similarly, except for the promise of a new ministry to address the objective of creating a digital society, there has been no advance since 2015. In 2009 passports were available in one day. This year, getting an appointment took months. TTBizlink is a case study in government’s slow IT progress. The IDB loan was granted in 2016. In 2020 the project is delayed and monies unspent. Why will a new ministry achieve anything different?
Money is not T&T’s problem. It is problem definition and organisation. Efficiency is confused with expenditure cuts. If progress is to be achieved, the public sector’s performance must be improved at all levels. Neither party addresses this conundrum.
Without considerable improvement in the public sector’s delivery capacity, T&T’s progress will be subordinated to political self-interest.