Only in Trinidad 🇹🇹 the mighty banana republic would this sad statement be true. The country had a crown jewel of its industry petrotrin producing local gasoline for the country that was paid for in TT dollars and could be produced with a fraction of the cost of foreign gas. A discount thar could be passed to the citizens. No, since petrotrin has been closed we no longer have that subsidy gas has slowly gone up in price to more than 200% like a man selling his fridge to buy ice and as the finance minister Colm Imbert famously said as he laughed “ well they eht riot yet” Sometimes i wish we were more like France they would have brought the country to a stand still.
I still remember watching that episode in parliament with the opposition, members read the supposedly corrupt business dealing in petrotrin involving a businessman a PNM financier and of all persons the email address of Prime Minister Keath Rowel’s brother. To the order of about $200 million dollars . In the coming weeks petrotrin was deemed unsustainably running at a loss with a missing $200 million. I wonder how that happened . It was hurriedly shut down and all the evidence quickly disappeared mysteriously. And that whole case quietly swept under the carpet. petrotrin was the major producer of foreign exchange together with all the down stream industries depending on it . Its well paid employees now did not have money to circulate into the country i remember talking to a doubles vendor and them telling me how hard things had become form them , ordinary workers could not even buy our beloved unofficial national dish. Ironically enough the price of oil and produces went up and had we just waited a little while it would have made back that $200 easily, seriously that happened .
petrotrin was out major source of foreign currency and guess who now has a mysterious forex problem , drum roll please yes , Trinidad and tobago where only the select few have access to limited foreign currency and normal people be damed . Alas we have now graduated from a 3rd world country to a banana republic. Look at what the government has been doing to clico assets . I remember watching pictures of our ship yards for refitting ships i didnot even know we did that bu the PNM government had this rusting away its like they are actively trying to run the country to the ground . I dont understand best i can think its a small 1% that profits at the expense of the country and everyone else be damed . Dont even talk about crime every year just when you think it was bad enough its gets worst 600+ murders and counting and the year not even up yet. And the horrible thing happening to our normal people , targeting of hard working businesses people pillars of the community. When these people ( ordinary people and criminals) can not even buy a doubles they CAN NOT BUY FOOD what future do we have ?
And what is our situation how are we financing the country well , plans to tax everyone they want to give you tax now for a dog kennel , tax you for opening a stall to the side of the road to sell vegetables. All be it yachts are tax free and some of the multimillion dollars rental properties in the heart of port of spain are taxed free , i give you one guess who owns them . They are also raiding the Heritage and Stabilization fund , the one to protect us form the IMF. They are also borrowing money . why are you borrowing money , how are you going to pay for this with interest.
Time to migrate I guess . I do not see any other future advice for young people. What do you all think ?
Adheim
