Provide answers to the many questions bedeviling the country...

My advice to the Prime Minister

By Jack Warner

The Silly Season has begun and it is going to be a long one indeed.

A number of issues of national importance takes place between now and the next General Election and the Prime Minister must be aware that these issues, if not addressed, will not augur well for his chances at the polls because the Opposition will have sufficient time to interrogate his party on the promises made and the promises delivered.

I am aware that my column “Advice to the Prime Minister” has become a sense of annoyance to the Prime Minister and to his party sycophants because this column brings to the fore issues that any leader of substance would address since it represents the thinking of the national community.

Notwithstanding that positive, I am being daily advised by the PNM sycophants that I am “farse and out of place” and to “stay out of PNM business.” They fail to understand that the Prime Minister’s business is the people’s business since he is not the Prime Minister of the PNM. One of them was even so bold to suggest on Facebook that I “should relax” and the Prime Minister himself stated at a PNM congress at Five Rivers last Saturday evening that week after week my articles are affecting his blood pressure. All I will say to them all, once again, is that time will tell!

Too many questions

Instead of using this column as the catalyst to effect change, the Prime Minister and his party view it as anathema and this is going to hurt his chances at the polls because the issues raised here will form the platform agenda for many. And if the Prime Minister refuses to treat with questions now, he will find himself seated on the opposite side of Parliament ruing the opportunity provided to him to address the issues I have been raising in a timely manner.

There are too many questions for which Dr. Keith Rowley needs to provide answers. For instance, the national community wants to know what is the status of the CLICO buyout which took place under the Patrick Manning regime?

We are yet to find out the real deal with the CLICO buyout, what was the real net worth of CLICO in 2009 in comparison to what it is in 2019; we need to know how the country has benefited from this buyout and what is the status of the debt owed to policyholders? The national community wants to know whether Government has honored the maturing obligations on policy surrenders, payment of pensions and annuities and what is the current sum needed to cover these commitments up to September 30, 2020?

In the 2017 – 2018 budget, Colm Imbert, Minister of Finance accused CL Financial of receiving over 23 billion dollars in public funds. The nation now needs to know how much of our public funds did CLICO receive since its buyout and what is the total indebtedness of CLICO to the people of Trinidad and Tobago?

Where are all the assets of CLICO, Mr. Prime Minister? Who are the custodians of these assets? Have we sold them and if so at what cost or have we transferred these assets to the people of this country and if so, what do we stand to benefit? And who are these people?

There is too much silence on decisions taken by your Government, Mr Prime Minister. And these are decisions that affect our lives. That is why you need to answer questions relating to the buyout of CLICO and its benefit to us as a nation.

Another matter of national importance relates to all the purchases of naval vessels under your leadership in almost all of which purchases you were directly involved. You went to Australia to Austal and Incat and, abra cadabra, you bought two vessels costing one billion dollars. You went to Malta and, following that, your government leased the MV Jean De La Valette (JDLV).

Diego Martin Sporting Complex

You said that there was crookedness in the Cabo Star and up to today nothing has been done about it. There seems to be a common thread in these purchases and many are saying that a stench is emanating from the sea bridge with the captain at the helm and all of this is happening against the background of the lack of implementation of the procurement legislation these past four years.

Another area of concern, Mr. Prime Minister, is the construction of the Diego Martin Sporting Complex for $115m. It is said that you, Mr Prime Minister, determined all the sub-contractors in this project. There was sole select in the project and that is why the cost of the project is so high. Again, according to the reports, all of this has been done in the absence of a procurement policy. The public therefore wants to know if all of these rumors which are in the public domain are true and for which they seek answers from you.

Still another area of concern that remains very troubling is the failed Sandals deal that was supposed to be the catalyst for the transformation of our economy. The Sandals Project dominated most of this present government’s term in office, yet the national community is still unaware of what the real Memorandum of Understanding was, the amount of money such a deal was going to cost the country and who stood to benefit the most from such a deal.

The then Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Honourable Stuart Young promised the nation that at the right time, the details of the Sandals deal would have been made known to the public. But the deal fell flat and still today no information has been provided for the public. Elections are coming and the Prime Minister is expecting the electorate to trust his government and his party but trust has to be earned, Mr Prime Minister, so if I were you I will come clean with my people regardless.

The Prime Minister must tell us to date, how much taxpayers’ money has been wasted trying to close this failed deal and how it was spent because the country needs to know who benefited But most of all the nation is begging to know the truth behind the failure of the Government to secure the deal because no one believes that Sandals really withdrew from the Government’s flagship project because of bad publicity. The Prime Minister must know that sooner rather than later he must answer questions about the Sandals deal and he must answer them truthfully.

Questions relating to the Petrotrin deal

There are many, many questions for the Prime Minister to answer. Such questions, for example, are regarding his tardiness in constructing a ring road around Chaguanas and Sangre Grande; questions about the poor health system and the cancellation of the construction of the Oncology Department at Mt Hope and questions about the energy sector.

When the silly season starts in earnest and the Prime Minister ventures south of the Caroni border, even into constituencies that traditionally have voted PNM, the Prime Minister has a number of questions relating to the Petrotrin deal for which he must begin to frame answers.

The people of La Brea and Point Fortin want to know about the kind of relationship the Prime Minister has with Wilfred Espinet. They need to know whether the Prime Minister or any member of his Government stood to benefit from the deal to shut down Petrotrin and send home more than 6000 workers.

The national community wants to know why the Prime Minister would take a state-owned company, split it in four and hand over all four companies to Wilfred Espinet and Reynold Adjodasingh, the same men who sat and were a part of the discussion to shut down Petrotrin.

The national community wants to know how much it cost the nation to close down our giant oil company and what is the salary cost of the men involved in making this decision. And based on the facts and not manufactured narratives designed to fool the people the nation wants to know whether we stand to benefit more with the Venezuelan deal.

The nation needs answers

The deafening silence, the lack of accountability and the opaque transparency of the present administration have left a nation demanding answers which even in its last days the Government is refusing to give. The nation needs answers Mr Prime Minister for what seems to be missteps, what seems to be wrongs, which, if not answered will initiate your peril and summon a premature end to a Government which promised so much when it was elected but which has done so little to date. So, Mr Prime Minister my advice to you is to provide answers to the nation’s questions.

NEXT WEEK: Why I Advise the PM Week after Week.