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Volume
16, Number 7 |
Also in this
section: Trinidad
and Tobago: the big guy on a difficult block
by Colin Frederick --- Council on Hemispheric Affairs Located at the
southern tip of the Caribbean basin,
the oil and gas-rich twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
(hereafter "T&T")
often referred to as the rainbow country, is known for its flamboyant
mixtures
of cultures and succulent culinary dishes. T&T possesses one of
the highest
per capita growth rates in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the
Caribbean
region. T&T's Gross National Product (GNP) has seen the
increase of
double-digit growth rates between 2004-2008, with an average per capita
GNP
growth rate of 16.4 percent during that period. The emergence of
T&T in the
regional vanguard of prime economic performers also has brought with it
a
number of distinct challenges and problems to be placed on the
Caribbean area's
agenda, and especially regarding the case of T&T residents. But T&T
also has turned in a performance hugely
scarred by corruption, drugs, gang warfare and indifference to the
plight of
its neighbors. This is why Kamla Persad Bissesar walked away with a
brilliant
election victory on May 24th in which her five-party coalition defeated
the
ruling People's National Movement party (PNM) by seizing twenty-nine of
the
forty-one seats contested in the lower house. In this race, there was
no
question that the corruption spread by Patrick Manning's shabby
leadership was
a key factor in his defeat and resignation. In addition, there is no
certainty
that the new PM's rule under the People's Partnership will improve the
status
of burning social issues affecting T&T. Local
hegemon or Caribbean integrator? --- The fractious evolution of the
West Indies
Federation into the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Eric Williams,
acclaimed by most of the island's
citizens as the "Father of the Nation," is considered one of the most
noteworthy leaders in T&T's political evolution. Williams, a
highly
regarded intellectual, had led T&T into a joint Caribbean
alliance aimed at
creating the West Indian Federation in 1958. This federal structure was
meant
to assist self-governance through offering a peaceful and orderly
constitutional path away from British colonial rule to independence.
However,
due to the deterioration of the federal structure and ongoing internal
conflicts among the islands' political leaders, Jamaica removed itself
from the
Federation, expressing its opposition to the proposition to strong
federal
government embracing all of the area's English-speaking islands.
Jamaica was
also reluctant to bear financial responsibility for the smaller and
less
affluent Caribbean islands. T&T
followed suit in spite of continued efforts by
Barbados Prime Minister Sir Grantley Adams to keep T&T within
the
Federation. Williams then pressed for his country's complete
independence after
communicating to the Federation that "One from ten leaves zero,"
symbolizing that we are not a Caribbean region without a comprehensive
integration of all the Caribbean islands. After the demise
of the West Indian Federation in
1962, the leaders of T&T, Jamaica, Barbados, and Guyana
convened in 1963,
at the inaugural Heads of Government Conference in Chaguaramas,
Trinidad. The
islands wanted to explore the possibility of a relationship with
Europe, Latin
America and Africa. This eventually led to the creation of the
Caribbean
Community and Common Market (CARICOM), which eventually was comprised
of 15
full members, 5 associate members, and 7 observers. The leaders also
formed the
Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME), designed to create a single
economic
and trade strategy, providing for the free movement of goods, services,
labor,
and capital among member states. CARICOM's goals point toward
strengthening
regional integration, creating sustainable development in the
industrial,
agricultural, forestry, fishing, and tourism sectors of market members.
However
from the start, the organization suffered from a lack of availability
of
sufficient resources and the relatively slow pace of foreign investment. Critics of the
status quo maintain that T&T is by
far the greatest beneficiary of CARICOM. T&T's dominance is
sustained by
the country's own rich resources in the petroleum and natural gas
sectors as
opposed to the majority of CARICOM member states that lack extensive
resources
and heavily rely on the "sun, sand and sea" mixture of economic
viability. The first half of the 2009 fiscal year saw T&T's
trade earnings
deriving from the rest of CARICOM members grow to 39.2 percent as a
result of
its increasing petroleum exports. T&T's dominance in the
Caribbean's
economy is not a recent matter, but it is one that has long been on
CARICOM's
agenda. The smaller
islands of the Caribbean belt, whose
population figures barely surpass 500,000 residents, chronically face
the lack
of sustainable infrastructure along with a continual brain drain of
emigrating
skilled nationals. Most of these islands also depend upon single
commodity
economies, a state of affairs that may profoundly mar their respected
economic
prospects. One way for the islands to expand their single market
economies is
to request loans and credit lines from international lending agencies
such as
the World Bank (IBRD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In
efforts to
avoid having further contract debt with these institutions and to aid
the sale
of bonds, these smaller islands have looked to Europe, the United
States,
Canada, and to the larger and more affluent Caribbean neighbors to bail
them
out. Caribbean
Airlines --- The Trinidadian Airline of the Caribbean The financial
pinch currently affecting the rest of
the English-speaking Caribbean islands also has opened doors to
Trinidadian
investment. In a deal brokered this month, the T&T
government-owned
Caribbean Airlines Ltd. (CAL) took over the operations of Air Jamaica,
which has
accumulated losses of over $1 billion (US dollars) in its 40-year
history, including
an estimated debt of $330 million within the last three years. CAL will
be in
charge of supervising and flying Air Jamaica's routes to North America
and the
Cayman Islands, as well as Bahamian destinations via the airline's
Montego Bay
and Kingston hubs. The deal will allow the Jamaican government to
acquire at
least a 16 percent share in Caribbean Airlines. According to a May
4, 2010 press release appearing in
the Trinidad Guardian, then Prime Minister Patrick Manning told
reporters: We
have been quite clear, there has been a take over of the profitable
routes of
Air Jamaica by CAL with the government of Jamaica having a 16 percent
stake in
the airline. We have always had that as an objective in mind. We
started CAL
with the objective for having it as a regional carrier. It is Air
Jamaica and
then after, Liat. This is standard practice. This business
model will not only strengthen the
T&T's control of the local skies but is also likely to end up
increasing
its hegemony over the entire Caribbean region. T&T's measures
of integral
control fueled by its petroleum and natural gas industries will have
the effect
of drastically stifling the air traffic requirements of the rest of the
region.
Moreover, these actions by the T&T government do not
necessarily
demonstrate an effort to identify and provide leadership along with
other
English-speaking Caribbean islands. However, the creation of a cohesive
regional Caribbean airline requires extensive funding from all
Caribbean
nations and not solely by the T&T government, with this issue
now under
review. Foreign
policy Through its
transition from an oil-based economy to
one promoting liquefied natural gas (LNG), T&T has become
extensively
involved in a wide span of trade agreements with other governments. As
a
result, the island has become the fifth-largest exporter of LNG in the
world
and the single largest supplier of LNG to the United States.
T&T provides
two-thirds of all LNG imported into the United States since 2002, with
that
market receiving 33.2 percent (129.1 billion cubic feet) of LNG during
the
first seven months of the 2008/2009 fiscal year. Despite the island's
profound
dependence on the US market for its petroleum and natural gas exports,
Port-of
Spain has not been reluctant to establish strong economic and trade
ties with
Cuba. The two countries
signed a Cooperation Protocol trade
agreement, which allows for the interchange of Cuban and T&T
scholars to
pursue tertiary and pre-professional programs at the University of
Havana and
at academic institutions located in the twin-island state. The
agreement also
makes way for increased relations in the field of medicine, through
which Cuban
doctors, nurses, and medical technicians assist in T&T's health
care
workforce in return for the export of Trinidadian oil and other energy
products
to Cuba. Trinidad also has received guidance and assistance from Havana
in the
agricultural sector through the construction of the Tucker Valley Mega
Farm
Project that has created two large-scale commercial farms structured on
utilizing innovative cropping techniques and sustainable methods in the
Tucker
Valley area near Chaguaramas. In spite of past
tensions regarding maritime boundaries
and fishing disputes, T&T officials have established a close
relationship
with its 10-mile distant neighbor, Venezuela. On March 21, 2007, the
leaders of
the two governments convened in Caracas, where Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez
and former Prime Minister Manning signed a Framework Energy Agreement
providing
for the intersection of the countries' adjoining hydrocarbon energy
blocks. This
agreement by no means managed to entirely eliminate nor resolve
Manning's
continuing reluctance to unite the T&T petroleum market with
Petrocaribe,
an oil partnership with Venezuela and English-speaking Caribbean
nations. The
majority of these Caribbean islands, with the notable exception of
Barbados,
acquire oil, oil by-products, and infrastructural and developmental
support
from Venezuela, hence creating a singular challenge for the largest oil
producer in the Caribbean, T&T. A
failing government In the 2009/2010
budget presentation to the House of
Representatives by PM Manning, who before his defeat also held the post
of
Finance Minister, laid out the future goals for T&T under the
theme "Vision
2020: Strengthening Efficiency, Addressing the Challenges." According
to
Manning, these positive steps would maximize the country's use of its
resources, strengthen its capacity, harness its potential and
prioritize
projects while improving the quality of service delivery to T&T
citizens. However,
Vision 2020 is already losing its clarity. In an April 1,
2010 article, the Trinidad Newsday
revealed the data gathered from a recent MORI Caribbean opinion poll,
in which
the former ruling PNM government "received unfavorable ratings for its
management of the provision of basic public services. Eighty-two
percent
thought that the T&T government had done a poor job handling
the issue of
drainage, as well as wages (79 percent), roads (77 percent), food
security (75
percent), health (74 percent), national security (72 percent),
pollution (69 percent),
electricity (68 percent), and the financial sector (67 percent)". Then
PM
Manning was strongly criticized by the public for the government's
mismanagement of funds after it spent more than $1 billion during the
global
financial crisis to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009
and the
twenty-first Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in
November 2009.
Lavish public spending continued in the same year with the $148.1
million (Trinidad
& Tobago dollars) construction of the Prime Minister's
Residence and
Diplomatic Center and the possible purchase of a private state-owned
luxury
jet. Apart from Manning, the former Sport and Youth Affairs Minister
Gary Hunt
also came under heavy fire for the construction of a TT$2 million giant
national flag for the Hasley Crawford Stadium, meant to be a symbol of
national
pride. The allocation of
government expenditures came to the
forefront of public attention at the same time citizens were waiting
countless
hours in public hospitals due to a lack of bed space, inadequate staff
and
dilapidated medical equipment. In addition to the rising cost of food,
the public
was outraged by a transportation system that poorly served the riding
public,
especially Trinidad, where the infrastructure already was in dire need
of
repair. On April 8, 2010,
Manning advised President Maxwell
Richards to dissolve Parliament only halfway through the two-year
period of
authorized existence by the ruling PNM. This came following an imminent
submission of a motion of no confidence by the then opposition leader
of the
UNC and now Prime Minsiter Kamla Persad Bissessar, against the PNM.
Aside from
the May 24th general election, in which Manning's forces were crushed,
Trinidad
and Tobago has experienced four elections within the last ten years: in
2000,
2001, 2002, 2007. This election period significantly differed from the
usual
buildup of electioneering tension and the issuance of manifestos
because last
month's election was predicted to have an extremely close outcome.
However, the
surge of voters to the polls, proved the analysts wrong. The PNM
contested the
elections against the People's Partnership, a five-coalition party
comprising
of the UNC, the recently formed Congress of the People (COP), the
Tobago
Organization of the People (TOP), as well as the National Joint Action
Committee (NJAC) and the Movement for Social Justice. In spite of the
ensuing
political fracas between the PNM and the People's Partnership, the
newly formed
government must address issues of crime, corruption, mismanagement of
public
funds and spiraling healthcare costs. From
the land of Carnival and masquerade to the murder capital of the
Caribbean The government's
purchase of offshore patrol vessels,
six fast patrol crafts, four helicopters, as well as upgrades to the
Special
Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT), the Police Service, the
Defense
Force and the Prison Service, have not been able to appreciably lower
the
murder rate. Despite the increase in technology and weaponry, murders
are
estimated to surpass 2009's figure of 509. According to a May
14th article in the daily Trinidad
Guardian, the United Kingdom government warned its officials and the
traveling
public that while in T&T: "You should be aware that there are
high
levels of violent crime, especially shooting and kidnappings." A U.S.
travel advisory on T&T expanded upon this: "Violent crimes,
including
assault, kidnapping for ransom, sexual assault, and murder have
involved
foreign residents and tourists, as well as incidents of armed robbers
trailing
arriving passengers from the airport and accosting them in remote
areas. Trinidad
and Tobago has an average murder rate of 55 per 100,000, making it "one
of
the most dangerous places in the world." Escalating crime has not only
affected the tourism sector but it also has spurred the flight of a
number of
local business owners and their assets to North American and European
markets. Corruption During the last
few administrations, the media
described T&T politicians as greedy and failed political
leaders with a
vaulting thirst for power and little else. In last year's Corruption
Perceptions Index (CPI), compiled by Transparency International, an
international non-governmental organization committed to fighting
global
corruption, T&T came in at number 79 out of 180 corrupt
countries. This
placed T&T as one of the most corrupt of the Caribbean islands
surveyed. Corruption
is not a new seed that has embedded itself in Trinidadian soil; rather
it is
longstanding, widespread and rampant. For example, the 2002 scandal
stemming
from the construction of a new terminal at the Piarco International
Airport
resulted in several businessmen, as well as several key members of the
UNC
government to be charged with allegations of corruption in the
construction of
the US$262 million facility. In addition, then-PM and UNC party leader,
Basdeo
Panday, was charged with failing to declare a London Bank account to
the island's
Integrity Commission. Over the last few weeks, former PM Manning had
been in
hot water for the appointment and subsequent spirited defense of Calder
Hart,
the former executive chairman of The Urban Development Corporation of
Trinidad
and Tobago Limited (UDECOTT), who was involved in the construction of
numerous
governmental projects. The Commission of Enquiry into the Construction
Sector
is currently investigating the discovery of a Malaysian connection
between
Calder Hart and his wife's family to Sunway Construction Caribbean Ltd,
the
same Malaysian entity which was awarded the construction contract for
the new
Ministry of Legal Affairs tower in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. The airport
scandal
was a tumultuous cudgel in the 2002 reelection of the UNC; and as made
official
by the May 24 loss, it seems that the PNM now has suffered the same
fate. To a certain
extent, T&T at times has asserted
itself as a leading creative force in the Caribbean basin, fueled by
the
precious natural resources with which it is endowed. These frequently
have lead
to Port-of-Spain's mounting hegemony among its Caribbean neighbors.
Nonetheless,
in spite of T&T's external triumphalism in the arena of trade
and economic
relations, the last few decades has seen T&T frozen from its
natural
resources. At some point, this will lead to the T&T government
bursting out
in acts of arrogance that will be too egregious for society to
countenance. There is no room
for doubt that T&T's civic
society has been traumatized by the spasm of corruption that it has
gone
through in the recent years. There is no reason to automatically have
faith
that social conditions under Persad Bissessar will improve. However,
given the
island's recent history, it is some consolation that it cannot get much
worse. Also in this
section: News
| Economy
| Culture
| Opinion
| Lifestyle
| Nature
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