Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie says one of Government's most important tasks is to deliver truth and honesty to T&T's citizens and ensure every citizen is well-informed about government decisions and activities.
Cuffie, a former media manager at two of this country's major daily newspapers and a former president of this country's media association, made the comment during a recent exclusive interview with the T&T Guardian on his role as Communications Minister.
His office on the sixth floor of Nicholas Towers, Port-of-Spain, overlooks the busy Brian Lara Promenade and the erratic mix of greenery, diverse architecture and people unique to the capital.
He was an expected choice for the role after winning the La Horquetta/Talparo constituency on September 7 given his media background, transferring his passion for communication from the private sector to serve the public.
Asked to describe the role of his ministry, Cuffie said the success or failure of a government had to do with how it communicated with its public.
"People always talk about having good ideas and a great plan but a great plan is only as good when you have the people to implement it. The implementation of good plans by a government can only happen with the support of the public.
"My primary mandate is to ensure the public is well informed of anything the Government does, so we can have buy-in for what we want to achieve," Cuffie said.
He said it was important that Government interacted with and consulted the public more.
"My mandate is to bring down the information asymmetry between Government and the public as well as Government and stakeholders," he added.
He said Government wanted to focus on rebuilding the public trust.
"This is a job for the entire Cabinet. We have to keep the trust of the public. We got it on election day and we have to keep it. Public trust can be lost through miscommunication or poor communication," he said.
"The population has already said clearly what it expects from a government and what it expects is transparency, accountability and they want people who would look after their needs and not after themselves. We are committed to doing those things and communicating effectively so the public knows we are doing the right thing." Cuffie said.
The schedule of responsibilities for Cuffie's ministry includes data protection, content generation, the National Archives, freedom of information monitoring and three state enterprises.
The State enterprises are Government Information Services Limited GISL and Caribbean New Media Group CNMG and the National Broadcasting Network.
Review for CNMG, GISL
Shortly after being sworn in as minister, Cuffie stated that the Government had no business owning a media house, a statement he clarified during the interview.
While he said the Government was not considering selling it to the private sector at the moment, the companies should not continue to compete with private sector interests.
"Right now, the Government is in the media business. It owns a television station which competes with other stations in the private sector," he said.
"The Government does not believe that it serves any good for the Government to own a media house in competition with the Express and the Guardian. That serves no public good."
He recalled that there was a time when government alone owned and controlled the media but said the Government felt the country had reached a stage in its development where that was unnecessary.
"What we need to do is communicate effectively with the people of T&T. We can do that in any number of ways and a commercial media is not part of this Government's plans."
He said CNMG may, however, be able to function as a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation station, like the BBC, used for local productions.
"It serves a public good in terms of keeping culture alive and expanding and allowing local content to thrive but you do not have it to compete with the TV6 and CNC3 because there is no need for that.
"TV6 and CNC3 provide entertainment around a news product. They are commercial organisations. They bring American shows, I don't believe it is a good use of government money to pay for foreign content to compete with these stations," he added.
Cuffie also said it was an inefficient use of government money to have CNMG and GISL both having televisions stations, morning shows and none of them making money.
"I have spoken to the board about this and they will look at it going forward," he added.