Charles: Rowley’s free ride is over…the people want policy, not platitudes
THE proposal by Keith Rowley to revive a long and widely rejected Trinidad & Tobago Revenue Authority is further evidence that he and his party are making ideas up as they go along, and have no plan, no vision and no good ideas for the progress of the people of our country.
This from PRO and Campaign Manager of the United National Congress, Rodney Charles in a statement issued Wednesday.
Charles, who is also a former T&T Permanent Representative to the United Nations, dismissed Rowley’s proposal to revive the Revenue Authority idea as “a rehash of bad ideas that were rejected before, and are even less relevant today.”
“We must never forget the resounding rejection of the concept of the Revenue authority, which was almost equal to the deep anxiety triggered across the nation by the Property Tax also promised by Rowley’s party. Both of these proposals would immediately cause unemployment, cuts in Public Service staffing, hardship for many citizens and more avenues for political interference.
“This goes against the grain of every progressive policy delivered by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Administration in the last five years.”
“But Keith Rowley is now backed into a corner. He has spent five years refusing to support every major initiative that would benefit the citizens, and is now being forced to up his game; the people are not interested in acerbic rhetoric,” Charles said.
The previous Government of which Rowley was a senior Cabinet Minister for the majority of its tenure, proposed the TTRA. Former Finance Minister, Karen Nunez-Tesheira, said the Government planned at that time to pursue a Voluntary Employee Separation Packages (VSEP) for more than 2,000 employees at the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) and the Customs & Excise Division. The plan would ultimately have seen both the BIR and Customs and Excise Division being shut down.
Charles said: “Keith Rowley is now being called upon to act and speak like a true leader. The people of Trinidad & Tobago want policy positions and clear promises, not empty platitudes. The people of Trinidad & Tobago want to hear about a practical policy plan, not fictional marketing plans to hide his arrogance.”
Charles challenged Rowley to “come clean and categorically identify how he will manage a situation of 2,000 public service employees becoming unemployed because of bad policy. He has had a free ride for five years being left to condemn everything without giving alternatives, and now that you are called upon to act like a true leader, you cannot run and hide as you did through your Parliament term. You must listen to the voice of the people and you must answer their questions explicitly.
For further information please contact: Rodney Charles, PRO/Campaign Chair
Phone: (868) 322-1766 – email: rod_char@hotmail.com