Beckles: Government on verge of collapse; PM clutching at straws

Akash Sama­roo

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has ac­cused Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar of lead­ing a “wicked” and “in­com­pe­tent” Gov­ern­ment now try­ing to dis­tract from mount­ing con­tro­ver­sies sur­round­ing the HDC and Land­mark­TT.

In a state­ment is­sued this af­ter­noon, Beck­les claimed Per­sad-Bisses­sar is de­lib­er­ate­ly at­tempt­ing to shift na­tion­al at­ten­tion away from ques­tions sur­round­ing more than $3 bil­lion in hous­ing-re­lat­ed con­tracts and the on­go­ing scruti­ny fac­ing Land­mark­TT Prop­er­ties Ltd.

“Her voice has sud­den­ly emerged in an at­tempt to dis­tract the na­tion from Land­mark­TT-Gate and HDC-Gate, but it is not work­ing,” Beck­les de­clared.

Beck­les added that the Prime Min­is­ter was pre­sid­ing over a Gov­ern­ment plagued by con­tro­ver­sy and pub­lic dis­sat­is­fac­tion.

“Her Gov­ern­ment is on the verge of col­lapse, and she is clutch­ing at straws,” Beck­les said, adding that the ad­min­is­tra­tion had “on­ly brought pain and suf­fer­ing to this na­tion.”

The Op­po­si­tion Leader al­so ac­cused the Gov­ern­ment of fail­ing on sev­er­al ma­jor na­tion­al is­sues, in­clud­ing crime, the econ­o­my and cost of liv­ing pres­sures.

“Failed to show com­pas­sion for our peo­ple, failed to an­swer for your Gov­ern­ment’s han­dling of over $4 bil­lion in con­tracts, failed to stim­u­late eco­nom­ic growth, failed to present an an­ti-crime plan,” Beck­les said in a di­rect at­tack on Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

She ar­gued that the Prime Min­is­ter’s re­cent re­marks were “dis­taste­ful and des­per­ate com­ments” in­tend­ed to dis­tract from what she de­scribed as a fail­ing ad­min­is­tra­tion fac­ing “mount­ing dis­plea­sure of cit­i­zens.”

Beck­les al­so took aim at the char­ac­ter of in­di­vid­u­als as­so­ci­at­ed with the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) Gov­ern­ment.

“Trinidad and To­ba­go looms un­der the shad­ow of a na­tion­al cri­sis un­der this UNC Gov­ern­ment, led by ques­tion­able char­ac­ters, in­clud­ing per­sons on bail and those be­fore the courts on oth­er se­ri­ous mat­ters,” she stat­ed.

Her com­ments come af­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­cent­ly told Beck­les she was “the last per­son” to speak about ques­tion­able char­ac­ters in Par­lia­ment. The Prime Min­is­ter made the re­mark amid the on­go­ing con­tro­ver­sy sur­round­ing Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates and al­le­ga­tions tied to the Pub­lic Ad­min­is­tra­tion and Ap­pro­pri­a­tions Com­mit­tee (PAAC).

Beck­les, how­ev­er, in­sist­ed Per­sad-Bisses­sar had no stand­ing to lec­ture her on in­tegri­ty or lead­er­ship.

“I find it shame­less­ly oxy­moron­ic that Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar seeks to lec­ture me on in­tegri­ty, ac­count­abil­i­ty, or lead­er­ship when she her­self has ques­tions to an­swer,” Beck­les said.

She al­so ques­tioned the fi­nanc­ing arrange­ments for ma­jor hous­ing projects cur­rent­ly un­der pub­lic scruti­ny.

“Which UNC big boys and girls stand to ben­e­fit from the HDC $4 bil­lion wind­fall? And what is the source of funds for this mas­sive hous­ing project?” she asked.

Beck­les said the Gov­ern­ment should in­stead fo­cus on ad­dress­ing ris­ing crime, eco­nom­ic un­cer­tain­ty, fail­ing in­fra­struc­ture and wa­ter sup­ply is­sues af­fect­ing com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try.

“The Gov­ern­ment is des­per­ate for dis­trac­tions, even as the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go con­tin­ue to ask hard ques­tions about crime, the ris­ing cost of liv­ing, eco­nom­ic un­cer­tain­ty, fail­ing in­fra­struc­ture, and the grow­ing dis­con­nect be­tween this ad­min­is­tra­tion and the re­al­i­ties fac­ing or­di­nary fam­i­lies,” she stat­ed.

She end­ed her state­ment by say­ing she would re­main fo­cused on hold­ing the Gov­ern­ment ac­count­able “on be­half of the peo­ple, their liveli­hoods, their safe­ty, and the fu­ture of our na­tion.”