I have lived through the demise of Petrotrin, From ‘Texaco Must Go’ to ‘Privatize and Downsize’. I have seen it with my own eyes. I grew up, over the hill, at the back of it:
• diary and orchards bust, pangola grass overrun with bush and trees, cows gone;
• the tanks and pipes grown rusty;
• the oil spills in the Guaracara River, the Gulf, the Oropouche Lagoon;
• the inordinate pay increases for staff;
• the big-busting bad investments;
• theft, of oil or tools or equipment;
• the square pegs in round holes;
• the declining morale and work ethic;
• the sabotages by ‘wutless’ crooks, seafarers and land-farers;
• the declining efficiencies;
• the politicisation of the company—interference and party hacks;
• the contradiction: post-Colonial man snatching economic defeat from the jaws of economic victory. Caroni (1975 Ltd) all again; which I also lived through.
The lands and other assets of Petrotrin and the former Caroni (1975) Ltd stretch all the way from the East-West Corridor to the Columbus Channel, our southern coast. They say that WASA owns the water of the land. And that T&TEC and other companies own the power grid.
The Petrotrin, Caroni, T&TEC and WASA story has a clear moral. We must move from the Petrotrin money economy to the social asset economy. Our system of constituency and polling division are designed for mobilisation for elections, the ascendancy of the party, not for participatory politics and economic development. After Parliament is deconstructed, fragmented, into 41 municipalities, these lands should be divested into municipality commons, for the people to own and boost production.
The following national laws would make ordinary families more reliant on their commons and municipalities—that is they would save money on land, mortgages, energy, water, food, communications and litigation—and less dependent on wages and salaries from the corporation sole, that is the Government and companies such as Petrotrin and the defunct Caroni Ltd.
• An affordable land act—the biggest beneficiaries of any land sale are government, real estate and bank
• An affordable finance act—to curb agglomeration of low-priced high-cost (loans and mortgages) money
• An affordable energy act—universal solar and other renewables, less reliant on T&TEC’s grid
• An affordable water act—water collection systems, less reliant on the WASA grid
• An affordable food act—flagship farming economies in all constituencies
• An affordable communications act—a universal system of internet connectivity
• An affordable judicial protection act—local 24-hour courts in all municipalities.
Our citizens must be given affordable prices for their national assets. Not only must Government devolve into our hands, but so too must our social and economic national assets. Thus, when Petrotrin and its money go the way of all flesh, we would still survive. In a sustainable way.
Wayne Kublalsingh