…and the PNC Manifesto
Miffed that the PPP were first off the blocks with their Manifesto, the PNC petulantly accused the former of cogging from their playbook!! One isn’t sure why the PPP would want to do that, since the few accomplishments the PNC coalition managed to scrape together were all PPP-conceived projects they inherited. Like the CJIA and ECD/WCD highways. And even then, they managed to screw up the airport by conspiring with the Chinese company to fob off a shoddy makeover, rather than a new, modern structure. Like the ECD highway, the CJIA remains unfinished.
A PNC spokesman claimed they’re putting on the finishing touches to their manifesto. That’s rather surprising, since not completing 95% of what they promised in their 2015 Manifesto, they could’ve as well reissued the untouched and unused document!! But they’re obviously ashamed of their failure to accomplish even their own modest plans, since the fella announced they’re naming their new manifesto a “Decade of Development” – starting from 2020.
Why wouldn’t they have promised to complete the 2015 one? Is this the way governments operate — every five years, throw out the old plans and start from “scratch”?? They have a name for this: “running on the spot”!! And as the name suggests, at best, we’ll all be right where we began every five years under the PNC!!
So, let’s take a look at that old Manifesto which had been launched with such fanfare and so much promise.
That opened up with a summary of the Cummingsburg Accord with the PNC and AFC. How much of that agreement was executed? Did PM Nagamootoo get to chair Cabinet, or be responsible for Domestic Affairs, as promised under the rubric “Shared Executive Responsibilities”??? How many “Ministerial Appointments” did he recommend to Granger? What about that “Government of National Unity”? Did that even glimpse the light of day? The promise about “Reforms of the Local Government System; Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches of government” had excited a lot of interest. Why did they remain stillborn?? Weren’t they going to be the result of “Constitutional Change” that would be tabled in the National Assembly within 9 months??
There was also going to be “the curtailment of immunities, pension plan and other inequities of the presidencies”. Yep! You read that right! Did that get blotted on Granger’s copy?? As a “youth man” himself, your Eyewitness’s interest was piqued at the promise of “ensuring all State Boards have a youth representative on them.” Any appointment?
But you get the idea; don’t you, dear reader?? If so many of the crucial promises of the PNC coalition – forget just filling potholes! – were not fulfilled, why trust their new promises??
Fool me once…
…and integrity
One big promise of the PNC coalition was ensuring the “integrity” of their government officials. With trumpets blaring, Trotman promptly announced a “Code of Conduct” that would guide the said members. Even though it was long on aspirations and short on specifics, folks felt it was a start. But as scandal upon scandal broke over the government – Durban Park; Ansa Drug Contract; pharma bottomhouse; DHB design bid etc etc – like the waves of the Atlantic at the Kitty foreshore, one understood why the Code of Conduct was never even given official imprimatur!!
Then there’s the Integrity Commission. This was finally appointed THREE YEARS after the PNC took office!! But when it revealed that the president was among the majority of government officials who refused to file their asset declarations, your Eyewitness knew this Commission was in trouble.
And lo and behold, so it was!! The Chairman just revealed that the government has starved it of funds, so that it can’t even publish the names of the transgressors!!
And they’re all supposed to be honourable men!!
…and symbols
All parties planning on competing in the next elections must register their symbols with the Elections Commission by Dec 13. Can’t have conflicting symbols.
So, who’ll back off from using the “Scales of Justice”?? JFAP or TCI??