United National Congress (UNC) PRO Anita Haynes yesterday described the Government as incapable of leading the country and criticised Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s decision to go on vacation at time when the latest sea bridge fiasco was troubling citizens.
The PM is on vacation in Barbados this weekend and returns tomorrow.
“The Prime Minister has left at a time when there are serious questions about his Government’s handling of the procurement of the vessels to service the sea bridge, instead of attempting to answer those questions, Dr Rowley apologised while still not accepting responsibility for the debacle,” Haynes said in a press release.
“In one of his first speeches after being sworn-in as Prime Minister, Rowley stated emphatically that the ‘buck’ stops with him, so we must hold him ultimately responsible for this port scandal, particularly because of his refusal to take decisive action.
“An apology before heading off on your seventh vacation and the second one in two weeks is unacceptable. It is clear that Rowley has no interest in representing the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Haynes said T&T had been at the mercy of what was described as an “incompetent Keith Rowley administration” for 23 months, during which time she said crime had escalated, the economy “is in shambles” and there have been significant job losses as well as cuts to education and health care.
She said the country could not identify a single thing the Government had achieved after two years of being in charge.
“No one is better off now, we have tightened our belts, we have adjusted our living expenses and still Rowley and his Cabinet are asking us, as a population, to do more while the Government vacations,” she said.
“The population will soon feel the effects of the cuts to GATE, as families will not be able to afford to send their children to school, and the Government has yet to adequately explain how the means test would be implemented.”
She said in the face of all these cuts and the Government’s apparent mishandling of procurement procedures, they were yet to articulate a single item for revenue generation beyond taxes.