Fixin’ T&T is estimating that, yet again, 50 to 60 per cent of the $64 billion budget will be lost to corruption and inefficiency. “We are reiterating our call for legislation to plug the holes and stop the theft,” it said. The NGO’s head Kirk Waithe spoke to the T&T Guardian outside Parliament yesterday shortly after Finance Minister Larry Howai presented the 2014/2015 budget in the Lower House. Waithe and a group of about five people held placards against the barricades in front of Parliament calling for campaign finance, party finance and procurement legislation.
He explained: “Until we get legislation to stop the inefficiency, corruption and stealing, budget after budget will continue to lose and waste people’s money. “Until such legislation is passed, budgets make no sense. “It is estimated that 50 per cent to 60 per cent of government expenditure every year for the past several years is lost to corruption and inefficiency. I challenge any economist or finance minister to bring evidence to refute this.” Pressing against the railings next to Fixin’ T&T was a new group calling itself Simple Majority. There were three members who held placards, none of which had anything to do with the budget.
Simple Majority was still angry over the recently- passed Constitution (Amendment) Bill. One member, Orvid Reeves, bending over, strained to hear the budget on a small device in his hand over the noise of passing vehicles. The leader of the group, Jamila Reid-Cato, was not with them but Heather Jack spoke on behalf of the group. She said, in all fairness, they preferred not to comment on the budget until they had properly analysed it. Jack said Simple Majority was born out of the Constitution (Amendment) Bill and wanted to show the fight against it was not over.
...but supermarkets welcome hike
The proposed increase in the minimum wage will not have a huge impact on the business community or the economy, Vernon Persad, president of the Supermarkets’ Association of T&T (SATT), said yesterday. Responding to the announcement by Finance Minister Larry Howai of an increase in the minimum wage to $15, Persad said he welcomed the measure. He said: “Many of the people within our industry, because we compete so heavily for labour, already (pay) above the previous minimum wage of $12.50. “Now that it comes in line with reality, it is a good thing. People in the lower incomes, where they were not enjoying (a good income), will now enjoy and now have more disposable income to treat with the reality of prices in the market.”
Asked whether he thought the increase would result in price increases, Persad said: “Not necessarily. Possibly if it had gone at a significantly higher level, it would have had that effect.” He said he was also pleased about the increases in senior citizens’ pensions and the disability grant. “I remember years ago when someone was caught in a supermarket stealing baby milk, I think that is where the whole concept evolved. “When you have to buy baby milk and you have to buy diapers and you have to buy baby food, it is not cheap, and it is good that people would be given an opportunity to provide proper care and nutrition for their babies,” Persad said.