(Daily Express Trinidad) – The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Associa-tion has told Government that it wants no more incentives and all it is interested in is the State doing its job.
“We just want the State to get out of the way,” recently appointed TTMA president Dr Rolph Balgobin said yesterday.
“If the State could just do what it is supposed to do instead of getting involved in a whole lot of things it should not be involved in, then business can flourish,” he added.
Speaking at a forum on competitiveness held at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Mt Hope, Balgobin said after 15 years the same factors continued to hinder the country’s competitivenes.
He listed crime, bureaucracy, corruption and poor national work ethic as some these factors. Making reference to the Emailgate issue, Balgobin raised concerns about the length of time investigations in Trinidad and Tobago take to be completed.
“That investigation ought to have been completed a long time ago. That it is not done, is a terrible indictment that after billions of dollars spent on policing and national security, the citizens of this country cannot know if allegations as far reaching as these are true or not,” he said.
He noted further: “The recent Auditor General’s report lists many millions of dollars in questionable transactions. Again, I am certain that no investigation has been opened anywhere. It is reported and forgotten.”
He said once corruption is dealt with, the country’s productivity and competitiveness will flourish.
One another note, Balgobin called for more discussions on the Industrial Relations Act before it is amended.
“Our labour force needs to be far more flexible. We need to make it easier to get rid of someone who isn’t performing. Our present system embeds bureaucracy and protects it. The common argument is that employers don’t know the rules but that isn’t true.”
