By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE Government’s Spotlight on the Economy was “nothing but a rehash of failed projections, misinformation, blame game and misdirection.”
This is according to Member of Parliament for Oropouche West Davendranath Tancoo.
Tancoo, the Opposition’s shadow Minister of Finance, on Sunday accused Finance Minister Colm Imbert of “gaslighting” the population with his recent statements on the economy.
He was speaking at the Opposition’s press briefing.
Gaslighting is used by psychologists as a form of manipulation.
Tancoo said, “For example, when a minister publicly states the government is doing well or that he does not lie or that the Government is not corrupt when there is so much evidence to the contrary, that is gaslighting.”
On Friday, Imbert and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley presented the Spotlight on the Economy, a prelude to the Budget presentation expected to be delivered on September 26.
The MP presented a lengthy analysis of that presentation.
Tancoo said, “There was no comprehensive explanation of our current financial situation, there was no explanation of the Government’s fiscal policy for the last seven years, there was no presentation of any sort of financial and economic plans, not a single strategy for economic development and transformation.”
He said Imbert has been repeatedly trying to convince the population that the country was in a financial crisis when since becoming Finance Minister in 2015 in his manner of attempting to show that the previous administration mismanaged Government’s finances.
Tancoo claimed, “The facts are that when Minister Imbert assumed office in 2015, he found $1.5 billion to be collected from the Phoenix Park IPO, $3.8b in capital payment from TGU, another half of a billion from the NGC, millions in repayment from Clico, US $10.5 billion in foreign reserves, enough for 12 months import cover.”
He instead called on Imbert to account for the money the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government has spent since it took office.
“The economy was not running on fumes. The Minister is being openly a stranger to the truth but you see, blame Kamla, blame Covid, blame Russia, blame public servants, gaslighting. It is an attempt to distract from the fact that this Government has been spending $153 million every single day for the past seven years and yet every single sector from education to healthcare, from security to infrastructure has gotten substantially and visibly worse,” he said.
Although the present administration has been in Government for almost seven years, nothing substantial has been shown through their expenditures in those years, Tancoo said.
He challenged Imbert, “Tell the truth, Minister of Finance, the country deserves truth. If you have no plan, say so.”
