People's Partnership

So the State of Emergency is extended. Effective today, the curfew as announced by the Prime Minister will be from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. We all knew it would happen; the government has a luxury of a strong majority that made the Opposition no more than a lubricant for all of this. In fact, the Opposition was as effective as oiled brakes - a result of their own time as government and it's democratically judged efficacy.

But I'm apolitical. I'm more interested in issues. And in the issues department, the best equivalent of most of the debate was, "my mummy can beat up your mummy". It was a true embarassment to watch. But the grandstanding was in full force, I suppose, with live cameras on the scene and a captive audience of those who want to know what's going on in Trinidad and Tobago.

Let me get to the issues.

They say a week is a long time in politics.  A week ago, I thought the main news item that would've occupied the front-burner would've been the Guardian's reporting of a top government official being fingered in an alleged conspiracy to wilfully pervert the course of public justice in relation to charges against two former People’s National Movement ministers.  Or the criticisms of Hon.

According to reports, PNM and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley criticised the government's handling of the threat posed by Tropical Storm Tomas, describing it as an over-reaction.  Dr Rowley delivered the criticism during his feature address at the PNM's Women in Politics seminar at Balisier House on Sat 30 Oct 2010.  The stories may be found in the Trinidad Express,

Hon. Minister of Finance, Winston Dookeran, delivered the 2010-11 Budget Statement in Parliament today.  The Statement and related documents have been published on the Finance Ministry's website (kudos to the Ministry's staff for posting these online so quickly), and you may get them in PDF from the website's Publications section.

The Hon. Minister of Education and the Hon.

At the risk of it falling on ears that have become spectacularly deaf since 25 May 2010, somebody needs to go to the Ministry of Education (MoE) at 18 Alexandra Street, St Clair, and screech loudly to the folks in there: 'MoE, we have a problem!'

It seems that the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has decided to spend $83 million dollars (TT) on laptops for children when they don't have a proper plan for implementation within the present Trinidad and Tobago education system. It's not that children shouldn't have laptops.

As reported in today's Trinidad Guardian, the Hon. Minister of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprises Errol Mc Leod says the minimum wage will not be increased to $20 an hour. He was made to respond to widespread claims that this was a People's Partnership campaign promise.

The local government manifestos released by the various parties for the elections on 26 Jul 2010 may be found below:

When Dr. Rowley, leader of the Opposition, starts asking questions about the proposed Aluminium Smelter, I scratch my head. There has been so much outcry in the past about it, whether  it be about the environment or the failure to provide jobs to residents in the area where the smelter itself is planned, enough so that it's likely that this was one of  the political failures of the People's National Movement (PNM) and the past leader of the PNM - Patrick Manning.