WHY ROWLEY PUT OFF LG POLLS

PRIME Minister Dr. Keith Rowley has received several verbal reports of an outraged electorate. 

Large numbers of people are enraged over the crime epidemic, high cost of living, unemployment, poverty, and the stalled national economy. 

Among those advising Rowley were a financier and campaign organiser of the party and a senior executive of a city-based advertising agency.  

With such crushing information, Rowley took a decision a few days ago to put off the local government election, which became due on November 2 with the expiry of the three-year term of office of municipal and regional corporations. 

The matter was taken to Cabinet last Thursday and ratified. 

Local Government and Rural Development Minister Faris Al Rawi was mandated to publicly reveal the decision, via a news conference, and to attribute the decision to new legislation governing the sector. 

This is the first time that Rowley has put off a constitutionally-due election. 

Informed sources said Rowley was strongly advised against summoning the polls as scheduled, and instead, to focus on improving citizens’ quality of life. 

The Ministry of Works and Transport would soon begin repairing 200 roads, while a newly-formed State enterprise, under Al Rawi’s Ministry, would spend $50 million on secondary roads. 

The Ministry of Social Development is to undertake a poverty-alleviation programme, which includes the disbursement of hampers to the dispossessed. 

The Government would utilise some of the additional revenues accrued as a result of buoyant energy prices. 

Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said that in the fiscal year ending last September, the Government earned $11 billion more than budgeted. 

The Government would also initiate a propaganda campaign in which it would promote the activities of various ministries. 

The PNM would eventually face the local government polls against the backdrop of having lost 11 seats in the 2019 election, being reduced to 72 constituencies. 

The UNC won 81 seats, compared to 54 in 2016. 

The UNC also secured the popular vote, with 54 per cent of that cast, an increase of 4.7 per cent from 2016. 

PNM and UNC each control seven corporations. 

The UNC regained Sangre Grande Regional Corporation in 2019, but the PNM is expected to allocate significant resources in a bid to wrest control. 

The corporation covers 917 kilometres, some of which overlap the Toco-Sangre Grande general election constituency, currently held by the PNM’s Roger Munroe. 

PNM canvassers fear the UNC’s retention of the Sangre Grande corporation could lead to that party’s capture of the Toco-Sangre Grande seat in the 2025 general election.