Manning backs back
PM Patrick Manning
It is reassuring to be told that the Prime Minister is not at war with anybody in Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately, the reverse may not be the case.
The Prime Minister has finally exercised better judgment and retreated from his aggressive, confrontational approach which certainly has not won him any new friends or influenced anybody, probably, even in his own party.
His unfortunate outburst in San Juan on Monday night left the wider national community aghast as in the midst of the UDECOTT scandal and investigations into corruption by his Attorney General, the Fraud Squad and Interpol, he attempts to paint the local construction sector as the devil announcing that he was declaring war against local contractors.
“So what we see happening today is a battle between Government and largely the construction sector and some elements of this…. And is war you know, and soldiers may fall along the way”, he thundered.
It is heartening that he has seen the wisdom to back back, as we say in local parlance, and is now saying that “the Prime Minister wishes to state clearly that the Government is not now, or has it ever been in any literal war with any group or person in Trinidad and Tobago.”
The Prime Minister has been defending the indefensible: he has stood loyally at the side of Calder Hart, despite the unchallenged evidence of nepotism at the Uff Commission of Enquiry or the fact that this Canadian superman was being investigated by AG John Jeremie.
He went on the offensive in the Guanapo Heights Church affair, claiming persecution and has simply misread the public mood in all of this.
When his information Minister, therefore, stated publicly last week that the public was very, very angry over the UDECOTT affair, he should realise that he is attempting to buck public opinion, to insult the intelligence of Trinidadians and Tobagonians.
Not that some local contractors are angels shoddy work abounds, particularly, in the HDC housing projects but the Government has done nothing about it over the years despite complaints from homeowners.
However, poor workmanship and other problems are not restricted to local contractors. There are new complaints about the National Centre for the Performing Arts about which he likes to boast and although his ultra-aggressive Culture Minister has denied this and has now launched a public relations campaign to boost the new facility, there are several unanswered questions about the certain aspects of this building.
The project, in the first place, made little sense since Queen’s Hall is less than 400 metres away and the proposed National Carnival Centre will be built a stone’s throw away and there certainly will be a lot of duplication at tremendous cost.
The truth is, that the public is very unhappy at the money spent on these prestige projects and the fact that billions of dollars in contracts are going to Chinese and Malaysian contractors.
All of this is happening in a dispensation where believe people they have to pay more property tax because the country has run out of money; customs officers and tax officers are threatening to shut down the country over the proposed TTRA; WASA wants to charge farmers for using river water while its officials have been involved in massive corruption and so on.
It is heartening that he can now say that he is not at war with anybody in the country. The trouble is that his sentiments may not be reciprocated by “a very, very angry public” and public relations damage control is not the appropriate response.