Senior Political Reporter
Both the PNM-led Government and the Opposition UNC have received bad marks for their performances in governance thus far.
That’s the view from political analysts, as today marks the fourth anniversary of the August 10, 2020 general election, when the PNM won a second term and the UNC assumed Opposition status a second time. Both sides now enter the final year of the term.
Each party has held their respective positions since September 7, 2015, when the Dr Keith Rowley-led PNM first won and the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led UNC lost. Next month will make it a total of nine years for each as Government and Opposition.
Neither the PNM’s nor the UNC’s political leaders responded to Guardian Media’s WhatsApp questions on their views on their performance. But analysts say neither has done well.
‘Government lost control’
Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said while Government had given the impression it was in control of various elements and sectors of society.
“The fact remains they’ve lost control. Crime is totally out of whack and the economy, though we’re told it’s doing well, shows a lot of signals that we’re in deep trouble.
“In terms of national security beyond crime, we’re hearing firemen’s complaints, which jeopardises T&T should a disaster occur. Simple things one would have expected the Government to deal with, clearly they’ve refused to deal with in any significant way.”
Ragoonath added, “Case in point, the education system. While we boast that everything’s being done and despite the simple complaint of a shortage of teachers, schools will have to reopen without full complements. This clearly tells us Government is failing on the job.
“From that perspective, I’d have to say the Government hasn’t succeeded in what it attempted or claimed it wanted to do.”
Ragoonath said the Opposition UNC also still has to get itself in shape for electoral challenges as T&T enters the election waters.
“I’m not sure the Opposition is fit and ready to challenge the Government, apart from repeating the Government’s shortcomings – and that’s demonstrated by the numerous parties that now want to challenge the official Opposition as well as Government,” he added.
Mohammed - PM continues to ‘bully’ opposing views
Political analyst Dr Shane Mohammed found both Government and Opposition wanting.
“Whilst there are ministers who’ve tried to make good on their portfolio, Government’s performance as a whole is bleak. They’re holding on to low-hanging fruit and in nine years in office, haven’t provided a short, medium or long-term framework to move T&T forward from a socio-political and economic perspective.
“They claimed to inherit an economy requiring rejuvenation and a Treasury of ‘massive misuse’ of public funds. However, Government hasn’t done enough to engender international public trust and confidence in investing in T&T’s economy.
“The economy lacks diversification in manufacturing, agriculture (as per the 2018 CSME mandate) and appears to have plateaued. Unemployment rates are at 5.4 per cent, poverty levels and cost of living are rising, crime’s out of control. T&T’s still without a proper immigration policy. There’s absolute disrespect and disregard for the Tobago House of Assembly and its executive - infringement of Tobago’s constitutional standing. There’s lack of opportunity for young graduates and professionals,” Mohammed said.
He added that Government appears to lack innovative ideas for good governance.
“There’s a lack of effective monitoring and evaluation in measuring the success/failure of Government. The Prime Minister continues to be a bully to opposing opinions and fails to see these are constructive criticisms. As a result, persons have been blacklisted, ignored and ridiculed—indicative of narcissistic behaviour,” Mohammed claimed.
He said the Opposition UNC has not proven to be much of an option either.
“By far the weakest and worst Opposition this country has seen since 1971, when there was a no vote campaign and the PNM won 36/0.”
“Kamla not credible”
Political analyst Dr Winford James said both the PNM and UNC haven’t been doing well and have been floundering.
“The PNM has been in office for almost 10 years, crime characterises the inefficiency of Government in power and there’s much discontent in wider society and within the PNM itself, where some are quietly wondering what’s the point of PNM continuing to rule where there’s so much discontent,” James said.
He said the Opposition also failed.
“We don’t know what their plans are and they pass themselves off as being superior in knowledge to the Government. They think they have more credibility in positions which they haven’t fully revealed and their presence in Parliament hasn’t been the most inspiring, so because of that we’re not sure.
“Kamla’s also finding it difficult to remain credible and even though her team won the last internal election, there are a lot of people, especially in the intellectual class, who are dissatisfied in the way she does things. But they—people like Vasant Bharath, Rushton Paray—don’t have the credibility and they cannot build the support she has. People tried to dislodge her and failed spectacularly, so they have credibility problems also,” he added.
James said it’s difficult to build a third party, as the two main ones have bases that are essentially race-based.