Penny: Chaos, cover-ups and poor decision-making in UNC’s 100 days

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles -

Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles said the government’s first 100 days were marked by chaos, cover-ups and catastrophic decision-making.

In a five-page response to Newsday about how she felt the government performed, Beckles addressed many issues that were widely publicly ventilated including CEPEP, crime, international and regional relations and the energy sector.

Political analysts and the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine shared their thoughts in articles on August 10 about the government’s performance in those first 100 days.

Augustine said the government had done well in that time.

The UNC’s Coalition of Interests government completed its first 100 days on August 9.

Beckles said in her release, “It took less than 100 days for Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her UNC-led administration to convincingly prove that they are not only unprepared to govern, but dangerously incapable of doing so.

“In fact, it took 100 hours.”

She said despite her call for unity, Persad-Bissessar ignored that and sent her spokesman to attack every suggestion and helping hand.

“The first 100 days in office of this UNC administration have been marked by an unprecedented attack on our people, our institutions and our economic well-being.”

She asked why was Couva South MP Barry Padarath more vocal and apparently in control than Persad-Bissessar.

“Can she travel to represent us?” Beckles asked in her responses.

There were never plans for the economy, health, youth or crime, she added.

Addressing topics like CEPEP, education and the repeal of revenue-generating measures, she said Persad-Bissessar promised much, delivered nothing and added $3 billion to the national deficit with no indication of how the government would manage the fiscal fallout.

“They even fired the Central Bank governor (Dr Alvin Hilaire) without warning or reason, further destabilising investor confidence.

“Businesses cry out and the foreign exchange challenge is worse than ever. What of their basic promise of property tax refunds? There has been no explanation,” she said.

Beckles described Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo as out-of-depth and said, as the 2026 budget approaches, citizens should brace themselves for what would be the “worst, most severe budget in decades.”

National security was in a free-fall and the country was in the throes of a failing state of emergency.

“And we, in the opposition, continue to ask the government where is the anti-crime plan? It is evident there is none.”

She heavily criticised the government’s proposed stand-your-ground legislation, saying that the government’s crime plan was nothing more than a recipe for chaos.

While crime statistics may reflect a decrease in murders, this presented a “dangerously misleading narrative,” Beckles said.

TT recorded 233 murders thus far, and this could only be understood in the context of a prolonged state of emergency, a mechanism originally instated by the PNM, she said.

She added that in its first 100 days, the government also created a confrontational relationship, and possibly hostile one, with TT’s closest neighbour, Venezuela, alienated TT from Caricom and the regional market, failed to engage in sufficient negotiation to avoid the US 15 per cent tariff on TT’s exports, which could be devastating to the country’s export-dependent economy and attacked institutions like the Police Complaints Authority, the President, and the University of the West Indies (UWI) over the Debe campus.

Beckles also discussed line minister Michelle Benjamin’s criticism of the Emancipation Support Committee of TT (ESCTT) over its handling of Emancipation Day celebrations, calling for accountability in its use of public funds.

She said the UNC-led administration made it a mission to insult and divide.

“The disrespect meted out to the ESCTT was not only insulting, but it also undermined the significance of our cultural heritage. They launched a scathing, unwarranted and unjustified attacks on independent senators and politicised governance to a shocking degree.

“Their cabinet, the largest in our history, costing the country millions of dollars monthly, is filled with nothing but jobs for the boys, the girls, the mouthpieces and not by merit or competence.

“We have ministers who are effectively professional bloggers, drawing a salary for their work despite lacking a legitimate mandate or clear authority to govern.”

She added that the government was not one of hope but of excuses, aggression and regression that weaponised social media and AI, tools democratic world leaders understand and know not to abuse.

The opposition was watching, would not stay silent, would stand up in defence of the people and hold the government accountable, she added.