Passage of the Wiretapping Bill is one in a series of initiatives being undertaken by the People's Partnership Government to clean up democracy in Trinidad and Tobago. This was stated by Minister of Finance and Congress of the People (COP) leader, Winston Dookeran, at the party's National Council meeting yesterday.
He commended Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for bringing the legislation to Parliament, adding that it was on the right path.
With reference to the CLICO and Hindu Credit Union (HCU) issues, Dookeran said that he was prepared, "to get tears today, and applause tomorrow." "The Government did what was justly right in dealing with these two thorny matters," he said.
The Finance Minister announced that these measures are among others being announced or in the pipeline that will lay a solid foundation for strong economic and development programmes in the future.He indicated that the Inter-American Development Bank(IADB) will meet later this week to finalise a US$140 million loan, part of an overall loan aimed at giving a new lease to the economic life of our country "away from the point of strangulation." Dookeran said the IADB loan to T&T, its approval time and the rate of interest of 1.75 per cent, were unprecedented in the Bank's lending policy.
He said further that when the People's Partnership Government came in power last May, its first premise was to clean up the balance sheet, clear up the clouds and set the platform for economic growth.