Harry Harnarine addressing the forum “The present political bias and gross mismanagement of the economy of Trinidad & Tobago” have impelled a landmark convention of stakeholders to address this issue of the day.

This initiative was held under the auspices of the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) — a fully owned subsidiary of the Hindu Credit Union Co-operative Society Limited. Several prominent stalwarts addressed the large gathering. The focus was crime, economics and politics. This bold attempt has come in for high praise and kudos.

It has redounded in the UWI hosting a similar forum. However unlike the IHL which was free of charge to participants, the UWI is charging for participation and even observation.

The symposium was the result of a poll conducted by the IHL that sought to gauge the opinions of concerned members of the HCU. The poll revealed that a majority of members wanted a collation of political forces within the UNC to move forward into the next general elections. Also interestingly is the ironic statement issued by the Governor of the Central Bank wherein he said that he is concerned about capital flight. This is truly reflective of the clueless nature of this government. Imagine that the HCU has marched against capital flight almost two years ago and this archaic regime is only now trying to play catch up. The horse has left the stable and they now want to close the gates. The situation with crime is not without economic basis. It is directly linked to consumerism and the demand to be “hype”.

In order to fulfill the peer competition crime has escalated beyond police and government control. The Institute of Higher Learning has planned a series of seminars to deal with the question of poverty, unemployment and economic reform The scope of the symposium has highlighted all these concerns and is truly moving in a direction to have the impasse being resolved. The first is a change in governance and then implementation of proper policies and regulations.