CL FINANCIAL BAILOUT 'INCESTUOUS'By COREY CONNELLY Saturday, September 12 2009
An ill Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday yesterday delivered his first budget reply in four years, dismissing the Government’s $44.4 billion fiscal package as fluff with no plan for taking Trinidad and Tobago forward.
Although he has been battling the flu for the past few days, Panday kept a brave face, speaking for almost three-and-a-half hours, several minutes longer than Finance Minister Karen Nunez- Tesheira in her presentation on Monday.
However, by 12.30 pm, two-and-a-half hours into his reply to the House of Representatives, the usually feisty Panday showed signs of exhaustion and signalled to Speaker Barry Sinanan that he wished to continue his contribution after the lunch break. Sinanan quickly obliged.
Panday, who frequently coughed, cleared his throat and sniffled, had a subdued demeanour during his lengthy delivery but still strongly condemned the Government’s fiscal measures, highlighting several of the PNM’s broken promises from previous budgets and bemoaned the country’s worsening crime situation.
Basing his contribution on the Government’s failure to address the needs of average citizens and its perceived hesitance to declare that the country was in a recession, Panday asked: “Was this a budget? The budget was openly lacking in required information. On Monday, the minister presented 43 pages of fluff, a carefully designed smokescreen which revealed no plan. She presented the temptation but no road map...It appears that the only plan the Government had was to spend, spend, spend.”
Despite his condition, Panday still exhibited signs of cheekiness by poking fun at Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert, whom he jokingly referred to as the “Minister of Nothing Works” and chastised Nunez-Tesheira for her failure to present a review of the economy and for her “incestuous involvement” in the CL Financial bailout.
“The incestuous involvement of this very Minister of Finance in the multibillion dollar CL Financial bailout in which the minister’s actions were revealed to be at the very least unethical and very likely corrupt, and the fact that despite this simplicity, the minister has up to today not been the subject of a criminal investigation,” Panday stated late in his contribution as he alluded to several examples of alleged corruption within the PNM administration.
Nunez-Tesheira, who had her head bowed perusing a document for much of Panday’s presentation, seldom responded.
Boasting that the UNC had not raised a single tax during its term in office “even though oil was at an average of $10 a barrel,” Panday said: “Nuisance taxes make life too difficult for the ordinary people.”
Panday elicited loud desk-thumping from his colleagues when he claimed that the increase in fines on traffic offences, which has come in for criticism in some quarters, was based on the presumption of continued lawlessness.
“This is the first time I have seen the success of a budget based on an increase in crime,” he said, urging the Government to review the proposed measures.
“A budget is not the place to deal with fines as a deterrent to road fatalities. This is for a legislative and administrative programme.”
Continuing his verbal onslaught on Nunez-Tesheira, Panday asked: “The minister is not foolhardy enough to believe that a $1,000 fine for a broken tail light or the 1,000 per cent increase in the fine for illegal tints will stop the carnage on the nation’s roads?”
“As a matter of fact, I find it curious that the minister seems more intent in preventing dark tints than in penalising speeding drivers.”
Panday said if Nunez-Tesheira were seriously concerned about minimising road carnage “police officers would not have to hide behind posts and raise a stick to signal a speeder.”
He also called on the Government to speedily implement the use of the breathalyser.
On the issue of property tax, Panday claimed Nunez-Tesheira had no understanding of the concept. He said a property tax was a tax levied on property in a particular jurisdiction and the income from the tax was pooled with other property taxes from the jurisdiction to be used for the benefit of that jurisdiction in which the property is located.
“Applying for a property tax in the scenario she has presented is regressive as it is related to the provision of no service and the revenue goes into the Consolidated Fund. This, too, is to be seen for what it is, a desperate attempt to raise funds to satisfy the Government spending craze,” Panday said.
He strongly criticised the transfer of 40 police officers from the St Joseph Police Station after the discovery of guns and drugs in the ceiling, and the transfer of eight officers from the Sangre Grande Police Station after drugs were found, saying the Police Service was losing its credibility.
“Mr Speaker, I am convinced that if it were any other citizen and narcotics and ammunition were found in a car or house everyone would be arrested and charged, but because it was found at a police station the officers are transferred out, no one charged to date.”
Outlining the UNC’s plan for moving the country forward, Panday identified crime, labour, health and agriculture as the major priorities.
