The early proclamation of Section 34, poor handling of crime, lack of procurement legislation, having an ethnic agenda and the inability to demonstrate leadership qualities have been blamed for the decline in the People’s Partnership’s (PP) performance to date. These were the critical issues which political analysts Dr Winford James and Mukesh Basdeo, and former head of the Public Service Reginald Dumas said must be addressed by the PP Government as it gets set to celebrate three years in office on Thursday.
Last Friday, the men all agreed that the Government needed to deliver more to the people and avoid repeated missteps and mistakes.
Dumas: PM Kamla needs to step on some toes
Dumas said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar needs to step on some toes in the country’s best interest. Dumas said overall, the PM’s performance was “not very high.” The PM, Dumas said, has to examine the issue of leadership. “I am not impressed of talk of her being a consensual leader. You can’t run a country by being consensual all the time. You have to make decisions on your own. I think she needs to demonstrate qualities of leadership which she has not demonstrated.”
Dumas said the good things the Government had done in the last 36 months had been outweighed by the glaring errors and blunders. Last year, Dumas in summing up the PP’s performance in a Trinidad Guardian article gave the Government an “F” grade. A year later, he believes the public perception of the Government has declined and they are not managing well.
“This does not mean that the public perception of the Opposition has gone up significantly. I would say the country is in a monkey pants at the moment, on both sides.” He still gave the Government a failing grade overall, stating that the Section 34 matter was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Too many issues are happening too fast. The population is alarmed and disappointed.”
Dumas said the fact that Communication Minister Jamal Mohammed said the Government has not been connecting with the people “is a hell of an admission to make.” People are of the view, Dumas said, that the PP has been making too many mistakes and missteps, while leadership is not provided at all levels. Dumas said the Tobago Organisation of the People losing 12 seats in the THA election showed that the Government needed to take stock of itself and “pull up its socks.”
Dumas feels the Government has to connect more with the people. He said public forums in communities which are attended by party supporters was not the same as “meeting the people of the country.”
Top marks for Moonilal, Bharath, Karim
In assessing the performance of Persad-Bissessar’s ministers, Dumas rated ministers Roodal Moonilal, Vasant Bharath and Fazal Karim as top achievers. Dumas said some of the ministers who have not been performing at optimum levels were Devant Maharaj, Winston Peters, Lincoln Douglas, Jamal Mohammed and Chandresh Sharma.
Though Suruj Rambachan has been given two ministries to manage, Dumas said this has not boosted public appeal for him “because he is not a popular person. People don’t particularly like him.” With general elections due in 2015, Dumas said a lot of things can happen. He said if Jack Warner contests the Chaguanas West seat as an independent candidate, this can pose a serious challenge for the Government.
Basdeo: Section 34 a thorn in PP’s side
Basdeo believes that despite the MSJ pulling out of the coalition, the Government has held its end together. “However they have experienced a lot of political hurdles and crises in the last 36 months. The issue of Section 34 has been a thorn in their side in the last few months. However, the recent ruling in the court has allayed the fears when one looks at the conspiracy theory associated with it.”
In terms of governance, Basdeo feels the PM has shown leadership qualities by removing some of her ministers from Cabinet and accepting Warner’s resignation. Basdeo’s advice to the PM is to focus on the promises made in the party’s manifesto. “This will work in their favour. They have been delivering...maybe not on all the promises, but they have been making major strides, especially in the areas of constitutional reform and local government reform.”
He said, however, the PP has had too many missteps. Basdeo also cited lack of communication among Cabinet ministers as a major turn off. “There is not a single voice emanating out of Cabinet and the Government. A proper communication strategy is required.” The Government got a poor grade from Basdeo for its handling of crime. “It comes back down to whether you are going to see an increase or decrease.”
James: Government mishandled procurement
To gauge the PP’s performance in a subjective way, James said one needed to look at its achievements and developmental actions against the promises made in their 2010 manifesto. However, he was of the view that the PP had not accomplished much in the last 12 months. “I do not regard the normal fixing of roads as major achievements.” Insisting that the Government was not unstable, James said they were factitious and there were too many blunders.
“We can attribute this to all the missteps they have made along the way. There have been many serious missteps and blunders. Just look at the Section 34 issue. I think they have mishandled procurement. They have gone along in the traditional way of favouring people with contracts. Those kinds of things hit at the heart of mediocrity and equal opportunity for our people. We get a sense that these guys are feeding at the trough. The Government is badly run in the first place because of constitutional loopholes.”
James questioned how even-handed they were in the distribution of goods and services. “My impression is that they have been woefully underhanded and uneven-handed, in the way they have gone about these things.”
Govt knocked for crime
He also knocked the party for not tackling crime in a serious manner and its attempt to give soldiers powers of arrest. “So far their efforts have not yielded the kind of results that they anticipated, and where we are now in terms of crime reduction.” James said the Government has been accused of having an ethnic agenda rather than an overall national developmental plan. James said the PM must make decisions for the country and devise policies that will give everyone equity and fairness.
One of the things outlined in the manifesto was procurement legislation, which James said he is yet to see. “That is where most of the corruption can be understood...so procurement is critical business but it has not gone anywhere, in my knowledge.” James also spoke about the PM being a consensual leader, stating while she seeks the views of ministers in her Cabinet, she has the power for things to go her way.
Stating that the party had a little splinter with Warner’s resignation and that “all is not hunky-dory,” James said if Warner goes up as an independent candidate it can drive a deep wedge in the PP. “It will bring the party into disarray.”