- PHOTO BY LEONARDO BLAIR
Trinidadian police patrol Frederick Street in Port-of-Spain, just chains away from the capital's Independence Square.
Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Contributor
THE TRINIDAD and Tobago government is trying to sell - some might even be tempted to say hoodwink - the country into believing that the twin-island republic, swimming in oil and gas money these days, could attain developed country status in about 15 years time.
But someone needs to tell the government and the committees responsible for getting us from our chaotic Third World mess to the pristine First World status, that their '2020 Vision' programme is myopic or as some other critics would say, cockeyed.
Sure, the objectives of the programme are commendable and laudable, but let's pinch ourselves: We're not about to reach developed country status any time soon, at least not in a short time span of 15 years.
Rather, the programme should be longer term, at least a realistic target date of 2050 and many may still disagree with me and say it should be longer if we are going to correct the numerous ills in our society.
To me the very first lesson that Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his government need to understand is that having a whole bunch of money doesn't translate into things automatically becoming right.
It needs the support of the entire country, with the people moving together on the agenda. But even though the government has been harping about their '2020 Vision' over the last three years or so, the ordinary man or woman still doesn't know what it is all about.
Personally, I don't buy into the First World status business. I'd be more than satisfied going into a government office and being treated courteously by an attentive front-desk receptionist who knows how to answer my queries; or going to the licensing department to renew my driver's
permit and still having most of the day to continue working.
STATE-RUN COMPANIES
It would help too if I could use the services of the government-run hospitals and know that I would be attended by a doctor after a decent period of waiting, like within an hour and if I have an emergency, I would be attended to immediately. Or, if I have problems with my utilities such as water and electricity, I'd expect the state-run companies to treat with them efficiently.
The other reality that the government needs to face up to is the high level of poverty and destitution in the country. How can we as a country move on to developed nation status with a significant section of the population living in stark poverty?
No one is taking a count of the number of poor people we have in Trinidad and Tobago. The 2020 committees have not even set poverty reduction goals, say for instance, to ensure that a certain number of people every year are brought out of their miserable conditions.
The latest statistical information I could locate was a 1996 report from the Ministry of Social Development which estimated that 35.9 per cent of Trinidad and Tobago's population lives below the poverty line of US$1,200 dollars a year. The annual per capita income in 1996 was US$4,230 dollars.
I'm sure that the poverty figures would have been reduced since that time but no one knows by how much.
Social worker Clive Pantin also brought another reality check when he said that the continued good health of the economy means nothing to the nation's poor if the benefits from oil and gas do not trickle down to reach them.
Clive should know. He beats the streets in the poor, disenfranchised communities, helping out dirt-poor families with monthly grocery hampers and clothes.
I don't know how many people are poor in Trinidad and Tobago but I see too many around to know that the economic prosperity that the government and Central Bank is talking about are not reaching them.
There is a block, invisible or otherwise. But no one is monitoring to see why there continues to be poverty and helplessness among a section of our population in a country that takes up money to assist neighbouring states.
So when the authorities speak about Trinidad and Tobago moving towards First World status in the year 2020 and the various 'visions' for getting us there, it rings hollow for those who don't know where their next meal is coming from.
