- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 03/Aug 06:13

PM, stabilise and sanitise

The joyous celebration of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s recent unopposed victory as the UNC’s party political leader attracts some admiration for her political longevity. On July 28, noting Emancipation Day, Minister of Culture and Community Development Michelle Benjamin delivered a brief but stirring speech celebrating African culture, its freedom-fighting heroes and the courage and resilience of African descendants here. She ended by reverently referring to her heroine, Persad-Bissessar: “This administration is led by one of our greatest freedom fighters of this country, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. She fought on our shores and regionally for freedom…and (with raised right hand) we all sing with one voice, ‘Free at last, free at last.’ God Almighty, thank you.” (Loud applause). Last year, Benjamin, a Spiritual Baptist, with similar evangelical zeal, predicted, without any “too-close-to-call” poll, that the “PNM will not be in office after August 2025.” Becoming PM for the second time with her remarkable UNC victory over the PNM, Persad-Bissessar made history. She admitted to making mistakes, but as evangelist CeCe Winans sang, “She held on to a hope that won’t fade.” Before April 28, the cry in town, including some from her own party, was that as long as she remained UNC political leader, the party would not win the election. She was too weak, they complained. But her spirit was strong. With smiling face sheltering hardened heart, she duly became very watchful and calculating. So confident she became that days before the party’s nominations for political leader, she threatened any potential competitor: “You want it, come and get it.” No man or woman did. And I remembered her other threat to UWI: “Don’t test me.” As our politics go, this 73-year-old fighter from Siparia deserves credit, even admiration. This was the woman who once, publicly pushed around by her own party, reverted to Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry for consolation. She held on. As a veteran political observer and commentator, I may not be able to say it as passionately or divinely as MP Benjamin did, but I find Persad-Bissessar’s political story fascinating and exemplary for young, ambitious women on all sides. I also know whatever the politics, she is no “racist.” In fact, she made political space for several capable women, starting from UNC deputy leader, the “tigress” Jearlean John, loyalist Khadijah Ameen, the indomitable Michelle Benjamin, the hard-working Vandana Mohit, Shivanna Sam and Natalie Chaitan-Maharaj. She has strategically transformed the UNC into the most multi-ethnic political party this country has had. Many branded the UNC as drifting into a DLP mould. She broke the stigma. Her “discovery” of former PNM AG John Jeremie, SC, and Prof Selwyn Cudjoe further integrated the party. Her inclusion of three trade union leaders as ministers and the promised ten per cent wage increase are part of her demanding “work in progress” agenda. The PM has an opportunity to stabilise the country and sanitise its corrupt elements. Five years is a short time in politics. Tackling political corruption and wastage of taxpayers’ money deserves front-line treatment. The decision by Benjamin to “audit” the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is a long-overdue example of financial responsibility. The NCC has not submitted audited reports for almost ten years, while one minister after another kept pouring taxpayers’ money into it. This irresponsible political act is against the 1991 NCC Act, which strictly states: “The NCC shall present to the minister annual (audited) reports on all activities no later than three months after the close of the financial year (July 31).” The act also requires the minister to lay the audited report within a month of receiving it. A parliamentary Public Accounts Committee in 2018 discovered the scandalous state of the NCC’s financial affairs – eg no financial accounting for tickets sold or assets rented, and no response to the Auditor General Department’s repeated requests for information, etc. But taxpayers’ money kept pouring in. Between 2010 and 2017, $1.8 billion was spent without any audited report. Who was called to account? The new UNC government must set a new standard by declaring to state bodies and regional corporations: “No audited report, no funds.” Of course, the new NCC chairman, Peter Kanhai, experienced and culturally knowledgeable as he is, is a promising start to save further damage. Benjamin must now tell the country how she plans to fix the problem. The “freeness and corruption” must stop at all levels. Stabilise and sanitise, PM. The post PM, stabilise and sanitise appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.