PNMites will eat grass!

Dookeran: Govt has lost control

Announcement on increasing water rates

Peter Christopher pchristopher@trinidadexpress.com

Monday, January 14th 2008

COUNCIL MEETING: Congress of the People's deputy Political Leader Carolyn Bachan during the party's press conference at the Vishnu Boys Hindu School in Caroni yesterday. At left is COP's Political leader, Winston Dookeran. -Photo: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK

CONGRESS of the People leader Winston Dookeran has slammed Prime Minister Patrick Manning's announcement that water rates may soon be on the increase. (You should have had a little common sense and thought of the consequences of your actions when you didn't want to join the united opposition parties and you ended up splitting the opposition votes.)

"It is only one of the examples that the Government lost control," Dookeran said at a COP media briefing following the party's national council meeting at Vishnu Boys Hindu School in Caroni yesterday.

The Prime Minister hinted at a rate increase during the People's National Movement celebration rally in Tunapuna on Friday night. Manning said that due to an annual subsidy of $919.5 million to run WASA, a review of the current water rates is necessary. (See Page 11)

Dookeran also criticised the response of the crowd to Manning's announcement.

"I understand he made the statement to applause. It is ironic he would have the applause of his membership," Dookeran said. (Well Dooky boy, this is what I would call typical PNMite behaviour. Notice that no matter what Manning tries to shove down these PNMites throats, they will take with their mouths wide open and ask for more. This is why I say that PNMites will quicker eat grass than vote for another party. Imagine food prices already so high and these blind PNM supporters hear of an increase in water rates and cheer as though they just won the lotto. This just goes to show you the kind of support the PNM has - uneducated and semi-literate.)

COP Deputy Political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan also criticised the possible increase, noting that almost "75 per cent of the nation is without a 24 hour water supply". (You should have thought about this before throwing your support behind a party that was splitting the opposition votes and doomed to fail!)

She also asked about the Government's plan to use more underground water sources when an EMA report revealed that the ground water table may be contaminated by leaks from gas stations. (I see you fail to recall the sewer water incident that happened a while aback, when WASA sent sewer water from the Caroni resevoir into people's taps. You actually thought that the PNM cares?)

Dookeran was also harsh on the Prime Minister's voicing of plans to monitor the performance of his ministers, labelling it as more evidence of "undemocratic behaviour". He said this was an "indication of the lack of confidence he has in his ministers".

Now I seriously thought Dookeran had a little more sense that that. Performance? With Manning, performance is measured by how much corruption you could get away with as a Minister in 5 years. The more you can get away with, the better your chances of getting a promotion. Case in point: Camille Robinson-Regis committed thousands of dollars in credit card fraud/misuse of state funds through a state issued credit card and instead of getting fired, she now holds a diplomatic position in Canada. I guess after Manning saw how much Government funds she could misappropriate on just a small trip to the US, he figured that he might as well put her in a foreign country permanently, that way she could misappropriate funds on a regular basis and not just in the short term.