OROPOUCHE West MP Davendranath Tancoo is questioning what he describes as Government’s haste to sell off state assets on the eve of a general election.
One of a battery of speakers at the United National Congress (UNC) cottage meeting at Chaguanas South Secondary school on January 27, Tancoo said this is worrying, as it comes at a time when, he said, the Government has bankrupted the country.
“I looked at the Central Bank data just before I came here. When you compare external debt outstanding to the net foreign reserves, the country has a net figure of US $38 million – which is one day’s import cover.
“In other words, external debt is now 99 per cent of the country’s foreign-exchange reserves.”
Asserting the term “one per cent” does not describe a race but rather a group of people “who are bleeding this country dry for their own benefit, without a care in the world for the damage they are doing to ordinary citizens,” he ascribed membership of this exclusive group to the Prime Minister and some members of his Cabinet.
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“Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, Energy Minister Stuart Young, Local Government Minister Faris Al-Rawi, Finance Minister Colm Imbert, AG Reginald Armour, one per cent, one per cent, one per cent. All of them.
“Imbert, Rowley, Young and the rest of the PNM one-per-centers have run this country into the ground to prop their friends, family and financiers. The PNM has effectively bankrupted the country and now they are desperately seeking to sell off taxpayers’ assets.
“Today on the eve of a general election which will boot them out of office, they are panicking – and rushing to sell off Petrotrin.
“With an election due in weeks, the PNM is suddenly rushing to sell off the lands at Invaders Bay. Why the haste?”
Petrotrin has been mothballed since 2018. The Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union, through its company Patriotric, was the initial preferred bidder, but its several bids were rejected.
Newsday reported that at a meeting of the Parliament's Public Accounts Enterprises Committee on January 16, Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd general manager Mushtaq Mohammed said final proposals from the three shortlisted bidders would be received by January 27 and the evaluation committee will review these offers on February 6 and 7.
When he presented the 2024/2025 budget in the House of Representatives last October, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said there were ten bidders for the refinery.
He added the group had eventually been narrowed down to three bidders. They are locally based CRO Consortium (DR Commodities Ltd, Chemie-Tech and Ocala); INCA Energy LLC from the US; and Nigeria-based Oando PLC.
Confident the UNC will win the 2025 election, Tancoo vowed to investigate these transactions, saying the party had excellent lawyers and financial experts to ensure whoever aided in the misconduct of contracts and disposal of taxpayers' property would face court and jail time.
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“They pretend that it is not happening, but let us not forget that it was the Procurement Regulator who publicly disclosed that more than $5 billion in state contracts were given out in violation of tendering and procurement procedures and this was done by PNM-controlled ministries and PNM appointees in one year.
“The PNM have broken the economic backbone of TT, deliberately,” he accused.
Focusing on the country’s economy, which he said was not a "sexy" topic, he urged people to pay attention, as it affects every single aspect of their lives, from health care to education, food prices, crime, infrastructure and employment.
“Our country is facing multiple crises, including a severe crime wave, drug shortages, equipment and staff deficits in the healthcare system, school violence, and increasing poverty.”
Yet, he submitted, TT has become like George Orwell's Animal Farm, with one law for the elite and another for the rest of the population, and where the Prime Minister and member of his government accept a 47 per cent wage increase but force public-sector workers to accept four per cent, “because the country has no money.”
It was, he said, a country where small and medium businesses unable to access foreign exchange turn to the black market, but the PNM one-percenters are facilitated.
