Senior Reporter
geisha.kowlessar@guardian.co.tt
The National Transformation Alliance (NTA) does not want to split votes to help the PNM win the next general election and will not be used to help other parties become the “sole government,” political leader Gary Griffith said yesterday.
“We are not here to work for any political party, left or right,” he said at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in St Joseph.
Griffith said while the NTA will be working with other political parties in joining forces, they must have a strategy to prevent a collapse.
“Political parties will usually deliver a Christmas shopping list just before the election of more police stations, more hospitals, better roads.
“There is no strategy, no cost-benefit analysis and because of that you will see the party that gets in government collapsing because they spend so much time trying to get into government, there has never been any preparation when you get into government,” he said, adding that this results in people being appointed ministers who cannot perform effectively because they are “square pegs in round holes.”
“We have a person who is the chair of the National Security Council, he boasts about it but his training and qualification is to massage rocks and stones,” Griffith said.
He emphasised there must be a way for political parties to join, other than to defeat the PNM and said an independent entity, the Strategy Institute of T&T, can help.
“This body comprises 25-odd of the best minds. They are not politically aligned and what they have done is form a road map towards good governance and that is what we need,” he said.
The NTA is expected to set up an office in San Fernando West in the next few weeks, Griffith announced.