The Opposition PNM will contest all 41 seats in the 2015 general election but will consider options if, in the event of no clear majority result, another party has a crucially needed seat, says the party vice-chairman Colm Imbert. Speaking at a Port-of-Spain Rotary Club luncheon yesterday at Fitz Blackman Drive, Port-of-Spain, Imbert said it would, however, matter which party it was.
He confirmed the shift from the PNM’s previous ”stand-alone” policy, among other plans for a PNM government on the party’s manifesto theme, “The Way Forward for T&T”. “I can sum up (the way forward) for you in two words: Vote PNM,” he lobbied Rotarians. Imbert said T&T traditionally voted out a government and accepted an alternative without proper analysis but it was time to vote “in” a government. He said what was assembled against the PNM in 2010 was a “pick-up side.”
”The way forward is for serious people to get involved,” he said, adding he was part of the PNM’s leadership for the first time. Imbert said the party was selecting candidates on the basis of competence, community ties and ability to get the job done. He noted Brig Ancil Antoine, Clarence Rambharat, Stuart Young and Neil Mohammed... “new people... I’m not talking about old guys like myself (Keith) Rowley, Faris (Al-Rawi).
“Patrick Manning has been in PNM for 43 years. I have been an MP for 23 and Rowley cheats. He adds his senatorial service and says 26 but we were both elected in 1991,” Imbert added. He said: “As PNM unfolds its slate, we will try our best to represent the society. One of the things I recognised with the PP is something that attracted people, that virtually everybody saw somebody in the coalition they could connect with.
“When you looked at it, it looked good, nice on paper and there were people you thought you could speak to. “We intend to assemble a team that as far as we can, represent society in every way, geographical, class, religion, ethnicity, and also represent a group you will be able to speak to. He added: “People and groups like this (Rotarians), what you want from a government is the opportunity to have dialogue with them and the opportunity to state your issues.
“A government does all kinds of nonsense but if you can talk to them and show them, ‘The decision you’ve made isn’t the best and perhaps you can do it this way,’ I think that’s what T&T needs. “I can promise you this is PNM’s plan and intention. We will also communicate with you and keep the lines of communication open.”
Imbert said youths had to be motivated to feel there were people in the leadership they could connect with and speak to and that they could influence policy direction. He added: “It’s a very difficult challenge. There are insufficient forums and systems for youths to connect with the leadership of politics which is essentially old people, seniors.
“There is a vacuum in T&T in terms of a connection and a forum where younger people can get involved and see the fruits of their advice influencing policies. This is one of the things we wil have to focus on.” Imbert said a PNM government would not scrap or cancel any ongoing projects unless they did not make sense.
The PNM, he added, also planned to change the system via which a police commissioner is appointed and sort out problems in the service with the top and give a commissioner security of tenure. Imbert, who said he was studying for a master’s degree in oil and gas law, added that T&T’s aged oilfields would need more attention to produce and the PNM’s plans included revamping the oil and gas sector.
He said there were many views on how to handle it but he felt a changed fiscal regime, tax reduction and creation of incentives were necessary for continued investment. He also said T&T needed to industrialise and unless that was done the country would depend on oil and gas for the next 30 years.
The PNM tried the aluminium smelter, he said, but environmentalists did not like it so it was “more or less a dead project” unless they could be convinced, which he said would be very difficult, so as far as he saw, that project was not on the horizon. He said T&T’s problems were crime, the economy and the traffic. ”I don’t know where all this traffic came from but something has to be done about it,” he said.
A Rotarian, giving the vote of thanks, agreed saying a rapid transit system was needed and the Diego Martin Highway had not solved traffic problems. He told Imbert Rotarians would hold him to his word on PNM plans.
Crime a deterrent to investment
Crime is a serious deterrent to investment and the problem is the police, says PNM MP Colm Imbert. At yesterday’s Rotary luncheon, he said the problem was not of the police’s making since T&T had had an acting Police Commission for two-and-half years. This year may close off at 400 murders if the rate continues as it was going, he said.
Imbert added there seemed to be no possibility of a permanent CoP in the foreseeable future since there had been no appointment to the chairmanship of the Police Service Commission (PSC) which handled the issue. He said since former CoP Dwayne Gibbs and deputy CoP Jack Ewatski left, the commission had failed to advertise and interview applicants for the jobs.
The PNM, he added, had asked Government to convene Parliament to change the system to appoint a CoP after it was found the system the PNM instituted in 2006 — choosing the person best suited for the job, rather than going on seniority — didn’t work.
Saying the party had plans to change the system, he said it must be terrible for people to act in posts without security of tenure and suffering attack, and a person with security of tenure appointed under an improved system would be better able to revive the Police Service.
