11/09/2018
It’s been three long years that the people of T&T have had to endure this Keith Rowley-led PNM Administration; our country is in deep crisis and our present situation is a direct result of the failures of Keith Rowley and his Govt which has failed in every aspect of governance to fulfil their mandate to the people of T&T and seems intent to continue down the path of destruction. Do not lose hope. Keep faith in God and keep hope alive, for better days will come when the UNC returns to Govt.
Highlights of the Political Leader’s Address
ROWLEY’S FAILED LEADERSHIP
We are deeply concerned about the state of our nation. But unlike your current Prime Minister and his cabinet, we have been hard at work in finalizing our plans to save our country from this wicked, uncaring, incompetent Rowley PNM Government.
I know you are worried. I know you may feel discouraged, you may feel like the challenges we’re facing now are too much – they can’t be overcome.
BIZARRE LOVE STORY
I read with some interest this weekend where the Prime Minister was interviewed exclusively by one newspaper and gave his take on his term in office so far. Mind you, not a week ago he came with the same refrain that he does not love this job, after feeling the anger and disappointment of Petrotrin workers..
Now he is saying that he “cares deeply” for Trinidad and Tobago.
Mr. Prime Minister, the people of T&T cannot be fooled.
A man who had unleashed the most economic, financial, social and political devastation on our country’s democracy, on our social sectors and economic industries, the man whose regime for the past three years has been defined by his deliberate, hateful, cruel, punitive policies, aimed at pauperising every single citizen on this country, except the 1 percent—this man appears on the front page of a national newspaper saying he loves our country, he loves our citizens.
What was more astounding than this mad rant, this megalomaniac’s delusional statements—is the fact that he got the newspapers to put that on the front page, like they are some fanzine publication, run by groupies of Rowley.
PNM SECRET MEDICAL SLUSH FUND
The suffering and discrimination that our children have been made to endure under this Rowley government and this Minister of health is unbearable, overbearing and heart wrenching.
When I was elected Prime Minister my first act was to fulfil that promise to the children of our country and their parents by the establishment of the Children’s Life Fund.
That fund was designed to ensure that not a single parent would have to endure the pain of not being able to provide lifesaving medical treatment to their children and to ensure that there was a mechanism in place to save the life of every child that needed lifesaving medical procedures that were not available in our country. I promised that every child would be given a chance to live.
Today my heart bleeds when I witness the suffering, agony and pain that our children and their parents are made to endure by this Rowley Govt and this wicked and heartless Minister of Health. Tonight I want to re-label Terrence Deyalsingh as the Monster of Health who is proud of the number of children that have been rejected by the Children’s Life Fund.
Imagine the THA spent $1,773,352.44) to send a one Dr Kevin King (now deceased) to India for a liver transplant. We asked the THA for a copy of the policy guideline that was used to provide this massive amount of public funds for Dr. King. Their response: There is no such policy document in existence! Which line item in the THA budget allows for the expenditure of such vast sums of money to pay for medical treatment of PNM friends in Tobago?
How could it be that there is no policy document in place to guide applicants or the THA itself?
Under the PNM it does not matter whether you are a child or if your illness is life threatening, it depends on where you live, where you come from and who you know. I have no difficulty in people getting assistance but why are we not putting our children first.
PETROTRIN WORKERS
This “caring” PM took the decision to close the Petrotrin refinery and send home hundreds of workers, who now do not know what their future holds.
On the heels of Rowley and his Cabinet Ministers threatening workers that he will instruct his Attorney General to personally sue any public servant who participates in any legal protest action I want to say this—do not be intimated by this hater! Do not fall for their bullying and threats because they cannot come after you in any possible way.
BAIT AND SWITCH - FACT CHECK ROWLEY PROMISES
I want to suggest that you do something of a fact check on this administration and the countless, off the cuff, promises they put forward, without any plan or policy to get it done.
In 2015, the Prime Minister said the first thing he would do was to bring Whistle-blower legislation... he campaigned on it every night to become Prime Minister… Three years later… nothing.
IN 2016, the Prime Minister told us about Local Government Reform… He campaigned on it for the Local Government Election… again, without telling us how it was going to be done… Two years later… nothing..
He promised to work with the Labour movement in September 2015… “we must ensure meaningful & active participation by labour in the decision-making process at all levels...”
Today we can see how the Prime Minister treats labour movement.
They promised “Timely settlement of all outstanding public sector wage and salary negotiations.”
The Prime Minister says anything he thinks people want to hear and then act like he never said it.
I want everyone to remember these things as the Prime Minister suddenly starts talking about ma*****na decriminalization… Dr Rowley is not coming to us with a plan or policy on this issue.
You can’t just come and say that the government will start consultations on ma*****na decriminalization and think that you can trick people into supporting you..
Rowley tricked the trade unions, tricked local government reformers and tricked whistle-blowers into thinking they had his support, and today he is trying his tricky once more.
The Prime Minister needs to come forward and tell us what is the PNM position on Cannabis.
DARRYL SMITH
Thus, tonight I ask, where is their report on the allegations of sexual harassment against former sports minister Darryl Smith? Remember 150,000 dollars was paid to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against former minister Smith.
DENNIS MOSES
Remember the diplomatic crisis that Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses caused when he objected to Dominica’s request for a waiver of fees to the OAS in the aftermath of the destruction caused by the hurricane? It was an international embarrassment and the CARICOM community was outraged.. That was in March 2018. What did Rowley do? He commissioned an investigation and received a report on 5 April 2018 which he sent for “review” by Ambassador Christopher Thomas. Today 5 months later we have no clue as to what the findings and recommendations contained in that report far less former Ambassador Christopher Thomas’s review.
MOUTTET REPORT
You may recall that he had once again sought to deflect attention from the corruption and mismanagement that was taking place under his watch at the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago by appointing yet another investigation. He appointed a PNM financier by the name of Christian Mouttet. He ignored the public outcry and protest against the obvious perception of political bias and touted Mr. Mouttet’s virtue as the perfect man for the job.
The Mouttet investigation report was completed and submitted to Dr. Rowley on 14th September 2017. He is yet to make the contents of that report public. What were the findings-we don’t know.
PETROTRIN
The stark reality is that this decision by the Rowley government to shut down Petrotrin is going to cause over 10,000 job losses.
And this is not taking into account social displacement. The fallout is going to be massive. The fallout from this is going to affect over 100,000 persons
Remember what happened when they closed down Caroni.
We maintain that the Petrotrin refinery can be saved.
But I want to tell the union upfront, the workers upfront that you have to make sacrifices to save your jobs. Don’t expect the rest of the country who also seeing trouble because of this incompetent Rowley to Bail you out.
Stand up, man up and accept some responsibility to save your own jobs.
(REF TO THE FULL TEXT OF SPEAKING NOTES)
ECONOMY IN CRISIS
We cannot trust this Government. Their spin doctors have been in overdrive, trying to paint a rosy picture of T&T.
Our economy is in crisis. Remember just a few months ago Colm Imbert was boasting that they had turned the corner? Remember that? The energy sector is “booming” he said. Well if everything was so great, why have you now chosen the nuclear option as they say, and plunged the lives of thousands of workers at Petrotrin into uncertainty and despair?
If we ever needed a clear sign that Keith Rowley has no plan, no clue how to fix the mess he created, this is one.
For the past three years all he’s done is blame Kamla, blame the UNC, and blame anybody who speaks out against him.
This Rowley government knows they have nothing to show for their term in office over the past three years.
More than $116B spent, but what do we have?
Increasing debt levels, a critical foreign exchange shortage, declining revenues, more than 25,000 jobs lost, and not one measure, not one policy, not one idea on how to fix this..
We are going in the wrong direction under this Government. We are heading down a path of darkness, destruction and woe under Keith Rowley.
Under his leadership, the economy experienced its sharpest decline in three decades, while they are concerned only with helping their friends and the 1%. Rowley is fixated on vanity projects, and not on improving the lives of the people of this country..
They have found themselves embroiled in scandal after scandal – the collapse of the seabridge, fake oil…his bestie at A& V – and on this matter – have the police completed their investigation?
WHAT WE WILL DO - ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION
We have a plan to diversify the economy to cushion against external shocks. We have a plan to modernize Trinidad and Tobago.
(REF TO THE FULL TEXT OF SPEAKING NOTES)
THE ONLY WAY FORWARD IS WITH THE UNC
This Rowley-led Government seems intent to continue down the path of destruction, they are taking us into a perfect storm..
But, there is hope. There is hope because the party I lead, your party, the United National Congress is ready to rescue our country from the disaster of this Keith Rowley-led Government.
It will take a Government with the will, the knowledge and the vision to repair the damage the Rowley PNM has inflicted on this country.
We in the UNC have the will, we have the knowledge and we have the vision to return Trinidad and Tobago to a path of growth and prosperity.
I have never wavered in my focus on people-centred development, and this is why my team is working on a plan to diversify the economy, equip citizens with the skills to enter the digital age, create sustainable well-paying jobs, and bring in new investments and much-needed foreign exchange.
I assure each of you, the UNC has prepared a plan to move our country forward.
I have been your leader for a few years, but I have loved you for a thousand years, and I will love you for a thousand more.
For the Political Speaking Notes in its entirety: http://unctt.org/
