Mark: Budget callous, wicked towards majority

Black Immigrant Daily News

The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Opposition Senator Wade Mark. File photo/ Sureash Cholai

OPPOSITION Senator Wade Mark claimed the 2022/2023 budget has transformed Trinidad and Tobago into a false utopia for some people and in reality a place where some people are “more equal than others.”

He made this accusation during the budget debate in the Senate, while reiterating the UNC’s demand for it to be withdrawn immediately.

The House of Representatives passed the budget on Tuesday.

Reiterating the UNC’s view that the budget was callous and wicked towards the majority of the population, Mark quoted from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible to emphasise his point.

“The godly may trip several times but they will get up. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.”

Without calling any names, as he looked towards government senators sitting in front of him, with opposition senators thumping their desks in support, Mark declared, “The wicked will pay a price for this disaster on the defenceless.”

He claimed the PNM had turned TT into something out of the pages of George Orwell’s 1945 book Animal Farm, which reflected the rise of Stalinism in the Soviet Union.

“This is Animal Farm, TT style.”

As in the book, Mark accused Government of sustaining a situation in TT where a minority benefits while the majority suffers.

“Why does the PNM brutalise the poor? Poor people have feelings too.”

He scoffed at statements from government ministers about business booming in TT.

“Where? Let us know.”

He claimed that after seven years in power, both the PNM and the economy are in freefall. While this is happening, Mark said, “The government wants people to cook on coal pots.”

He asked how people would do that if they could not afford to buy basic food items.

“People can’t afford to eat three square meals a day.”

He slammed Government for failing to deal with crime.

“Murders are on track to surpass all records this year.”

Mark also claimed that TT is losing $5.3 billion annually because no effective public procurement legislation is in place.

He reiterated a UNC demand for a police investigation into the construction of a new building at the site of the PNM’s Balisier House headquarters in Port of Spain.

Mark claimed, “The shadow of Balisier House is looming like a modern-day Tower of Babylon.”

He accused the Government of being deaf to the pleas of ordinary people. While the PNM wants people to eat less macaroni pie and ride bicycles to work, Mark claimed, “They (PNM) have fixed themselves for life.”

While stressing that the UNC does not condone any form of violence or illegal behaviour, Mark warned the Government that if it did not reverse course, it could be setting the stage for “massive social unrest.”

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