Friday, September 25 2009

As the 2010 Budget debate drones on towards its conclusion and passage in the Senate this week, we are forced to wonder upon what foundation it is based. The truth is that Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira has delivered her work almost as though she and her cabinet colleagues have just arrived here from outer space. They have managed to identify much they consider needs attention, without conceding that these problems are the result of their own complacency and inefficiency over the past nine years.

By failing to give any benchmarks on their previous performances, or even acknowledging precisely what are the existing situations, they make the promises for 2010 and beyond appear at first glance to be commendable. Unfortunately, such an acceptance can only be limited to those who have no memory of the recent past, the PNM’s sycophantic support base, or aliens from outer space.

They have also confused us all, probably quite deliberately, with their interpretations of our and the world economies. When discussing their Big Budget capital items, like military helicopters and World Summits, they have been proud to declare how strong the TT economy has remained, and that investments proposed in desalination plants and smelters and ship-building represent the way forward for a country not being affected by the world slowdown.

However, when challenged by the Chief Justice for what can only be described as “short-changing” the Judiciary, and by others for cuts in Health and other required services, the same Finance Minister who supports questionable capital investments on the grounds of our economy’s resilience, cries hardship and tells us about the tough economic conditions we are facing. And apparently no one is calling upon her to account for this disparity in her interpretation of our economy.

The Finance Minister has come up with an impressive list of promises to be filled in 2010 and beyond, but has totally ignored the fact that most of these promises are repeats of broken promises and failed implementation from past Budgets — including the one she presented in 2008. Did she forget what she had promised before, or did she believe that she could, by charm and “bouncy” delivery, just dismiss her government’s growing list of failings?

At least her theme has been faithfully followed by her cabinet colleagues, none of whom ventured to acknowledge their failings from the previous Budget presentation. The theme of this Budget clearly is “Forget the Past, Just Roll It Over”! We cannot help but wonder if the rare absence from any public input by the Prime Minister was not the result of his embarrassment when he first saw the Budget?

Sadly, the only thing which the Senate has added to the whole Budget Debate process was that National Security Minister Martin Joseph acknowledged his failure while still managing to praise himself for what he considers to be victories in the fight against crime.

But the most talked about item remains the proposed increases in property taxes. The Government is yet to feel the wrath of the population on this initiative. It may be that most people are convinced that this Government does not have the administrative competence to bring this into effect.

However, if the Government does apply the new regime, there may well be civil disobedience not previously demonstrated by our usually complacent society.