Tough take-off, soft landing
PORT SPAIN
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Petroleumworldtt.com
12 31 08
THIS PNM administration basically spent its first year in office in 2008, having won the general election in November 2007. But it was not a particularly good year for this administration, which only one year ago won a general election very convincingly. By the end of the year, opinion polls by a variety of agencies, including one published by the Express, conducted by Selwyn Ryan, had the Government doing very badly.
People remained concerned and dissatisfied over the crime situation, high inflation in food and housing, traffic congestion, flooding, and what the Opposition labelled as the presumed arrogance of the leadership in Government, evidenced in the attempt to acquire an executive jet.
The private jet deal fell through, but the criticisms of the decision to acquire it never died. However, public disaffection abated as the year ended and sympathy and goodwill for the Prime Minister during his period of illness rose.
PM's sickness
Undisputably the most dramatic event in politics in 2008 was the announcement by Prime Minister Patrick Manning on December 11 that his Cuban doctors had discovered a malignant tumour in his left kidney during routine medical screening.
"It (the tumour) has to be removed surgically," the PM said calmly.
He declared that he had no fear of death. However, he was not prepared to discuss whether his party had done any succession planning in the event of his demise.
During the next seven days the nation waited with bated breath as the Prime Minister prepared for his surgery, deemed to be risky because of his heart condition. The surgery, which was done at the Cimeq hospital in Cuba, proved to be a success and the prognosis for the Prime Minister's recovery is excellent.
In 2008, a number of Opposition MPs also suffered health problems.
Couva South MP Kelvin Ramnath was hospitalised with heart concerns. He underwent open heart surgery in Canada.
St Augustine MP Vasant Bharath also had a heart ailment where he suffered a major heart attack on December 12. He underwent cardio angioplasty at the St Clair Medical Centre.
Also, the wife of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, Oma, underwent surgery in London for heart problems.
Panday's brother, Princess Town North MP Subhas Panday, suffered from prostate cancer and also underwent surgery.
Firing of Rowley
But perhaps the most profound political event was the firing of Dr Keith Rowley, who is widely considered to be the second most significant figure in the PNM and a possible successor to Manning. The reasons that the Prime Minister gave for firing Rowley-that he behaved like a "wajang" and a "hooligan" in a sub-committee meeting of the Cabinet-were widely rejected by the population at large and people looked beyond the PM's explanation for a cause. Rowley gave as the reason the fact that he had questioned UDeCOTT's procurement practices and the alleged unethical practices being adopted by the Carder Hart-led UDeCOTT Board.
Commission of Enquiry
With Rowley's sacking came a crusade on his part for a Commission of Enquiry into UDeCOTT. His call received the support of the public and the Opposition. Government fought against it at first. But after failing to get support for a Joint Select Committee Enquiry, it relented and British jurist Prof John Uff was appointed to lead the Commission of Enquiry. At the preliminary hearing, Uff had some tough words for UDeCOTT. The enquiry begins in January.
Panday's suspension
One of the more spectacular events of this year was the suspension, on March 28, 2008, of Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday from the Parliament by House Speaker Barendra Sinanan for the entire session, which expired on December 16.
Panday was suspended for defying the Speaker, who ruled that laptops could not be used in the Chamber during sittings except with his prior permission. Panday's suspension left him out of the Parliament during the Budget debate. Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar led off the Opposition's response to the Budget as a consequence. A committee was appointed by the Parliament to look into the usage of the laptop in the House. On December 12, a report was tabled recommending even more restrictions for the use of a laptop.
Leadership challenged
Panday's leadership did not escape unscathed. Already beleaguered by allegations of corruption and by several court matters, the 'lion' faced a call for immediate internal party elections from his deputy political leader, Jack Warner. Warner and Panday traded punches in the media, with Panday stating that the party's highest bodies- the National Assembly and the Congress-had previously unanimously agreed that there would be no party elections until after the Local Government elections. Warner, however, countered that the UNC as presently constituted could not present itself as a viable alternative to the PNM Government, and that the party had to fix its own business before it could fix the country.
On December 10, an executive meeting chaired by party vice chairman Vasant Bharath agreed to present a motion the party's two highest bodies requesting that it review its decision to wait until after Local Government elections to hold the internal party election. This matter will no doubt continue to unfold in the new year.
Budget
Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira became the first woman to deliver the national Budget. While Nunez-Tesheira received much kudos, the Opposition, especially Opposition MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar, attacked it fiercely, saying it would contribute to the decline of the middle
class, an impoverishment of the working class and destitution of the poor and among these groups being destabilised "women will suffer most!"
The Budget debate, however, would be best remembered for the stinging criticisms which Rowley made of Prime Minister Manning and the Prime Minister's counter-attack, in which he (Manning) alleged that some $10 million was missing from the Housing Development Corporation's Cleaver Heights project. "Where the money gone?" he asked Rowley, who was Housing Minister at the time that the project was established. The Cleaver Heights projects has been referred to the UDeCOTT Commission of Enquiry
Oil fluctuations and Budget review
Global oil prices in 2008 proved that you do not have to be a politician to have a big impact on the local politics. By July, global oil prices reached a record high of US $147.21 a barrel. But by the time Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira presented the fiscal package before the Parliament on September 22, global oil prices had already declined to US$100 per barrel. The Government based its 2008/2009 Budget on an oil price of US$70 per barrel and a natural gas price of US$4 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu), a decision which was questioned by energy sector and financial sector experts and criticised by the Opposition.
Manning, Nunez-Tesheira, Energy Minister Conrad Enill and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Mariano Browne all defended the oil and natural gas prices used for the Budget for several weeks, in and out of the Parliament.
But as oil prices continued to plummet, Manning, by November 20, addressed the nation, saying that Government was facing a revenue shortfall of $6 billion and had to implement "belt-tightening" measures. In his second address to the nation on November 30, Manning said the Government anticipated a revenue shortfall of $5.3 billion and announced a planned cut back in expenditure, mainly in the development programmes. Nunez-Tesheira later told the Express that the Government was now using an oil price of US$55 per barrel and prices of US$3.25 and US$3.50 per mmtbu for natural gas.
Local Government postponed
In July this year, Local Government elections were postponed for the third consecutive year. Local Government Minister Hazel Manning said the consultants which Government hired needed more time to review the reform of the system.
Consultations were conducted with the public on Local Government reform. Manning said Cabinet had already approved proposed draft legislation and a legislative review committee had been established in addition to the two consultants who have been hired to go through the existing legislation and frame the new legislation. Local Government elections are constitutionally due in July 2009.
Constitutional reform
Constitutional reform continued to be on the agenda, as Prime Minister Patrick Manning presented a new constitutional amendment to the PNM's Convention in June with a promise that the document would be tabled in Parliament eventually for national consultation.
The PM stressed that the Draft Constitution, the result of Round Table discussion with an expert group, was nobody's document.
The draft proposed that there be no Prime Minister under the new arrangement. Under the new system there would be a President, who would be chairman of the Cabinet and who would appoint the members of his Cabinet- save six of them-from outside of the Parliament.
There were also fundamental changes to the powers of the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the judiciary in the Draft.
Max gets second term
Despite the Government's commitment to constitutional change, which would see the abolition of the current Presidency, Professor George Maxwell Richards was re-elected for a second five-year term as President. He was inaugurated at what was an unprecedented ceremony at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on March 17.
Story from Trinidad & Tobago Express
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Saturday, December 27th 2008
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