Eight months and 20 days after the People’s Partnership has been voted into office, the coalition Government has come under fire from the population. Blunders and a failure to deliver on some aspects of its 120 days immediate action plan are responsible for the Prime Minister and the party’s popularity slipping.
There is also growing dissatisfaction with the way Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been handling serious blunders affecting her Government. This, according to findings of a random digital dialling nationwide survey conducted by Ansa Mcal Psychological Research Centre, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, that has revealed disappointment and disenchantment among the electorate.
The opinion poll conducted between February 3 to 6 was supervised by the manager and senior lecturer in the Department of Behavioural Sciences Dr Derek Chadee.
A total of 509 respondents rated the performance of Persad-Bissessar and the PP in five categories—excellent, good, fair, poor and extremely poor. The biggest faux pas to date, according to the respondents, is the controversial hiring of former Strategic Services Agency (SSA) director Reshmi Usha Ramnarine.
This has hurt the PM’s image the most. Ranking the performance of Persad-Bissessar as fair, 38 per cent of respondents felt the Prime Minister has failed to be proactive and suggested that she adopts the more-action-less-talk approach. However, respondents said the PM’s decision to apologise on certain matters gained her some points, but she needed to get a grip and control some of her ministers.
Warner her closest rival
Her closest rival on performance is Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner, who received a good rating of 35 per cent for handling traffic congestion. The PM was rated as follows: Excellent-12 per cent, Good-31 per cent, Fair-38 per cent, Poor-14 per cent, Extremely Poor-5 per cent.
Those who rated the PM’s performance as “fair” said she was trying but some of the problems still existed. They also felt she was yet to seriously address the problem of crime. It was in the PM’s Old Year’s night address to the nation, that she spoke of a three-prong approach to crime—prevention, detection and conviction.
However, the country has recorded 56 murders in 42 days to date. The 31 per cent of respondents who gave her a “good” rating said she had been doing her best but she inherited the problems of the former administration.
However, 14 per cent of the respondents agreed that the Reshmi Ramnarine fiasco negatively affected the PM’s image. Some felt the Prime Minister needed to do less talking and act more. Regarding ethnicity, Indo-Trinidadians were more likely than Afro-Trinidadians to rate the PMs performance to date as “good.” Precisely 58 per cent Indo-Trinidadians, 37 per cent Mixed and 30 per cent Afro-Trinidadians stated “good.”
Further, Mixed Trinidadians (45 per cent) and Afro-Trinidadians (43 per cent) were more likely than Indo-Trinidadians (31 per cent) to give a rating of “fair.” Acknowledging that the PP was new in Government, respondents also rated their performance as fair. This found favour with only 43 per cent. Respondents said apart from not delivering on election promises the PP lacked unity.
The PP was rated as follows: Excellent-eight per cent, Good-29 per cent, Fair-43 per cent, Poor-15 per cent, Extremely Poor-five per cent. The respondents who gave the PP a “fair” rating cited leadership issues as one of the main challenge of the party. In addition, respondents suggested that they need to be united. While some respondents felt the PP needed time to perform, they said election promises were broken. Those who rated the Partnership’s performance as “good” said more could be done for the country even though some of the manifesto promises were fulfilled.
Blunders and apologies
• The controversial SSA fiasco has taken centre stage since the PP came into Government.
Even as a new SSA director is set to be appointed, there is no letting up with respect to the handling of the appointment of former director, Reshmi Usha Ramnarine, who has been severely criticised. Calls from several quarters for Persad-Bissessar to apologise met with stern resistance. Her eventual apology, which was long in coming, has been condemned in several quarters.
• The revelation of the Security Intelligence Agency created a tit-for-tat between the Prime Minister and Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs over who had control of the agency. The Prime Minister eventually apologised for the mix-up.
• In November, Persad-Bissessar received a tongue-lashing from Caricom neighbours regarding her Hurricane Tomas statements. It was while surveying the trail of destruction left behind in St Lucia, Persad-Bissessar vowed to assist but said in return T&T must benefit.
• It fuelled earlier criticisms levelled against the PM in July when she attended her first Regional Heads of Government Conference and stated regional countries should no longer regard T&T as an ATM card. The PM later apologised, ensuring her commitment to regional integration.
• Attorney General Anand Ramlogan continues to grab headlines with alarming statements which has caused the Government some embarrassment.
Most recently is the allegations of a missing piano from the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.
After much brouhaha and public outcry, the piano was discovered in the same spot where Ramlogan claimed it could not be found. Ramlogan refused to apologise. The PM was also heavily criticised by the public for Ramlogan’s failure to say he was sorry, as the population felt she did not have a handle on her ministers and senators.
• Ramlogan was again in the spotlight when he claimed investigations into the controversial CL Financial fiasco were concluded and in the hands of the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard. The DPP announced that investigations had not started.
• Ramlogan last week took on Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, claiming there is sufficient evidence to charge former Udecott executive chairman, Calder Hart. The DPP later refuted this in a press, saying he did not file on the Hart matter at his office.
• Eyebrows raised when Ramlogan, not the National Security Minister, took a jab at the new CoP, Dwayne Gibbs for failing to stop Pena from leaving the country during a high-profile criminal investigation. He then publicly informed Gibbs his honeymoon was over.
• Congress of the People Leader Winston Dookeran on July said: “I now feel that I have a party that can run on its own. And I have for the first time real politicians in the COP, for they can win elections too,” as he addressed a meeting in Chaguanas. This comment sparked controversy in the PP, with some MPs calling on Dookeran to explain what he meant. Dookeran later claimed his comment was taken out of context.
• Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts apologised to Parliament for denying that expletives were used at the Nicki Minaj concert.
• Minister of Justice Herbert Volney claimed Chief Justice Ivor Archie benefited from a ‘sweetheart deal’ granted by former AG, John Jeremie. Questions arose as to why the CJ did not have an official residence instead of taxpayers being burdened with such a $64,000 monthly rental.
It was later discovered that a decision was taken by the then United National Congress administration to sell all government properties.
Promises delivered
• Laptops to every Secondary Entrance Assessment student
• Property tax rescinded
• The expansion of Gate is being addressed
• A Ministry of the People has been established
• The Water and Sewerage Authority has embarked on a repair programme of all disrupted water mains.
• The minimum wage has been reviewed and stands at $12.50 per hour
• A Life Fund for children undergoing surgery has been set up
• The reviewing of laws and institutions to address white-collar crime
Broken promises
The PP, in its manifesto, promised 120 days of immediate action but the party has come under heavy criticisms from the public for its failure to deliver on some of its 32 plans.
• Failure to deal with crime and roll out an effective crime plan.
• Beginning the introduction of camera technology at traffic lights and set into motion an efficient system of ticket offenders.
• Establishing a Ways and Means Committee to formulate a project plan on a phased basis to make all government public services more accessible to residents of Tobago.
The people: The PP must deliver
Regarding the delivery of election promises, analysts said the PP gave the electorate certain expectations and they need to fulfil them at a faster pace. Political analyst, Bishnu Ragoonath, said: “The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the inability to deliver as fast as the people are expecting. I accept that things take time, but there are issues people expect to move a little faster. She needs to make sure there is more than talk and some degree of action.”
‘Busy putting out bush fires’
Also echoing similar sentiments was analyst Indira Rampersad, who said disappointment was expected given that the PP made many promises. “The people were expecting more at a faster pace. This was not necessarily unreasonable because the PP came into power with a lot of promises. Ministers have been busy putting out bush fires; they have been more reactive than proactive, quite frankly people were expecting to see action.”
Distribution of laptops the biggest achievement
Noting that the Prime Minister was seen as a hope of change for many, Ghany said there were certain expectations that needed to be kept. “The Prime Minister came into office on a wave of hope and change that propelled her to heights in the public imagination that were unreal. As a consequence, the expectation factor was very high.”
Meanwhile, Ghany said the PM’s biggest achievement to date is the distribution of laptops to all Secondary Entrance Assessment students. On another issue, the analysts said the PP was elected into office on an anti-corruption slate and should desist from doing otherwise.
Electorate not easing up
Political analysts viewed the change as a dawn of a new era—out with the authoritarian style of leadership and welcoming a humanitarian type of governance. The PP made promises on the election campaign trail and the electorate is not easing up. They are insisting that the Persad-Bissessar led Government must deliver. Assessing the performance of the Prime Minister, political analysts agreed that the controversial SSA fiasco has negatively impacted her leadership.
Ghany: Govt reeling from SSA
In fact, Dr Hamid Ghany said the Prime Minister’s first response to the media on the controversial issue demonstrated an element of authoritarianism. “The Government is still reeling from the effects of that move. She has now taken full responsibility for the matter which is the better way for her to go as a new Prime Minister,” he said. However, Ghany said, though the apology was late in coming, the Prime Minister showed a level of humility when she still opted to apologise.
Ragoonath: Proceed with caution
Urging the Prime Minister to proceed with caution, Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said Persad-Bissessar needed to desist from making blunders. “There are several. The most recent one would be the SSA issue; That would be the biggest blunder. She should double check her sources before making appointments, bearing in mind that this is not only scrutinised by the Opposition but rather by the world.”
Keep AG, ministers in line
Referring to the alleged “missing piano” raised by Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, Ragoonath said: “He should have said sorry. What she needs to do is have her ministers in line and know when they need to apologise to the citizenry at large. One has seen instances where the Attorney General would have made statements which I think, clearly, were not correct and insisted he would not apologise.”
Rampersad: Damage control overdue
Meanwhile, Dr Indira Rampersad said damage control was overdue. “The criticisms had already escalated out of proportion. If she had come forward earlier it probably would not have negatively impacted her leadership as it did. She handled the other issues very well up until the SSA issue.” However, Rampersad said leaders must be careful with how they interact with the media, noting that a badly handled interview can make or break any government.
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