INDARSINGH LAMBASTS ROWLEY’S PROMISES FOR RELIEF POST FLOODING: KEITH ROWLEY SPEAKS LIKE A HARE, BUT ACTS LIKE A TORTOISE; CALLS FOR MULTI-PARTISAN NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE REHABILITATION PROGRAMME.

December 2nd, 2022

Tour in the aftermath of the flood. 

Today, I visited parts of Couva South and surrounding communities to ascertain the extent of damage resulting from excessive rainfall and flooding, and the question begs to be asked, “Where is Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley?”

Several areas across the constituency of Couva South were affected by landslides, succumbing roads and shifting soil, with several homes affected by floods and weakening foundations. These areas included Boodoo Trace Indian Trail, Indian Trail Main Road and Gran Couva.

The Prime Minster has ‘ghosted’ the people.

As we toured from house to house, street to street, and community to community, the cry was common, “Where is Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley?”

Dr Keith Rowley, who earlier in his administration pleaded with the citizens in Central Trinidad to “Give the PNM a chance” is yet to be seen anywhere in flood-stricken areas to stand with our citizens in their time of crisis.  He has not been seen in the East, nor the West, nor the North nor the South, nor in Central Trinidad. He has not even been seen in Tobago. 

The absence of the Prime Minister from this scene of sadness, crisis, disaster, emergency and urgent need, reveals the Prime Minister for who he is; a callous, insensitive, selfish, anti-people, anti-Central Trinidad stooge of big business who takes joy in the self-importance that he feels when he snubs the poor, the downtrodden, the humble and the hardworking. 

Just last month, mere hours after completing his umpteenth round of quarantine after contracting Covid-19 for yet another time, the Prime Minister was seen scampering to the golf greens for a round of golf with Sir Vivian Richards, in true ‘never-see, come see’ fashion. Now, in this time of national emergency and calamity, the Prime Minster, who bolted to the golf course with speed and fervor, slouches distantly, numbly, and cowardly, peeping from behind the curtains at Whitehall rather than courageously attending to his citizens in their time of crisis. 

Speaking in social media terms, Prime Minster Dr. Keith Rowley has ‘ghosted’ citizens who are suffering. 

Keith Rowley is like a sleeping sloth. 

The election of such an anti-poor, anti-patriotic, anti-compassionate, anti-community, anti-country excuse of a Prime Minister is the greatest mistake that was ever made by the electorate of his country. Once referred to as a raging bull, Dr. Keith Rowley is now a sleeping sloth in the face of crisis in this country. 

He has also been just as uncaring and disinterested in the state of crime in this country, in the spiraling economy, in the growing economic hardships, in worsening traffic conditions, and in the overall decline. He must not just be condemned. He must be voted out.

Relief is too little, too late. 

The Prime Minister’s announcement of $40 million to the National Flood Relief Programme, $100 million for road rehabilitation and landslide repair and $10 million for agricultural relief does little in inspiring confidence that this crisis is being urgently attended to.  We in the Opposition have been consistently begging and pleading with this Government to deal with a number of landslips, crumbling roads, collapsing bridges and other poor infrastructure. This announcement of relief is pathetically reactionary, and much could have been avoided had the Prime Minister heeded the calls of the Opposition to undertake effective, proactive and quality repairs in regions where water damage and soil movement have been evident for the past seven (7) years.

As a former Minister in the Ministry of Works, I have had first hand experience in dealing with infrastructural rehabilitation in this country, and while the sum of $100 million makes for good headlines, the actual value of that $100 million is questionable given the vast extent of urgent works needed today, and considering the manner in which the costs of building materials, labour, technical fees have escalated under this administration.

The hopes of any family of receiving assistance to rebuild the pieces of their lives after the major losses over the last week are doused by this Government’s track record of promising relief and grants in a knee-jerk manner, while failing to ensure that these grants and relief funds are distributed in a timely and urgent sense. We must not forget that during the Covid-19 pandemic, this Government’s seemingly compassionate salary relief and rental assistance grants did not reach those in need for as much as an entire year after the announcement of the grants. In the aftermath of the great flooding of 2018, many households which applied for these  grants did not receive such until many months after, with many more still waiting on their grants even until today. Recent reports have indicated that under this administration, there has been at least $50 million in fraud at the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, and this causes immense concern about the potential of massive fraud taking place under this Government regarding funds allocated for flood relief.

Keith Rowley speaks like a hare, but acts like a tortoise. 

The sum of $10 million is of little hope to farmers in the face of a government that has flippantly ignored the constant pleas for the raising of river embankments, the provision of pumps and sluice gates, the proper dredging of waterways and the timely need for loss mitigation in wake of the upcoming Christmas season. 

The announcement of this $150 million package is way too little, way too late and comes from a Government that is quick to make promises for the purpose of public relations, but slow to execute for the purpose of real relief, and untrustworthy in the allocation of resources, since in the past, their friends and party card holders are moved to the front of the line, often undeservingly, while citizens in genuine need of help are left to suffer. 

Call for a multi-partisan national infrastructure rehabilitation program

Today, I am calling on the Government to chart a National Infrastructure Rehabilitation Programme in collaboration with the Parliamentary Opposition and all Local Government Corporations, so that these allocated monies can be spent in a transparent way, according to urgency and in the spirit of multi-partisan support for our country in its time of need. 

I only pray that this $150 million will not go into the PNM’s upcoming Local Government Campaign, nor to the construction of the PNM’s Balisier House, while homes, communities and lives across the country remain neglected by a government that has spent much over the years yet achieved nothing to date. 

Respectfully Submitted

RUDRANATH INDARSINGH

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR COUVA SOUTH AND SHADOW RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR and TOBAGO AFFAIRS.

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