SOME SIMPLE QUESTIONS THAT BEG SIMPLE ANSWERS

Oh gosh! Is it too much to ask the politicians on ALL sides to just give us the facts and tell us the truth? I've just listened to a rant in Parliament by the erstwhile Minister of Health who did a very good job of attacking the Opposition UNC but failed miserably to answer any of the real questions that plague those of us who would like to know the answers. So, in the (possibly forlorn) hope that maybe ... just maybe ... straight answers could be forthcoming with simple 'yeses" or "nos" wherever applicable, and without obfuscation for the rest, here goes with a list of these questions again:

- Does the Minister of Health acknowledge that testing for the COVID-19 virus is most important?
- If the answer to this question is 'yes', then can the Minister of Health say exactly how many persons have been tested since 1st March, 2020. (And for the record, the question is NOT how many tests have been carried out, but how many persons have been tested? There is a difference.)
- Will the Minister of Health give the exact figures for how many people are reported to have died from pneumonia and other respiratory ailments for the whole of 2019 and 2018?
- Will the Minister of Health say exactly how many people are reported to have died from pneumonia and other respiratory ailments for the period  1st January, 2020 to 31st March, 2020?
- Is the Minister satisfied that sufficient testing for the virus to date has been done?
- Will the Minister of Health say what happened to the reported 4,000 testing kits supposedly sent from China some time ago? Did they arrive? Were they satisfactory? Was/is there any problem with them? Are they ALL in use?
- Does the Minister of Health believe that we have "flattened the curve"? If so, when does the Minister believe that the quarantine can be lifted?
- Does the Minister of Health have any plans for lifting the quarantine?
- If so, what exactly are those plans? (Will it be a gradual lifting or an immediate one?  What exactly are the plans for getting us all back to work?)
- There has been talk of a "second wave" of the virus. Does the Minister of Health consider that this might be a problem? If yes. then what and how exactly does the Minister propose to deal with it?
- Is it true that patients in Couva and Caura suspected of having the virus are being kept in rooms with others? Is this considered best practice?

And for the Minister of National Security:
- Is it true that there was a ship at Pointe-A-Pierre which loaded thousands of gallons of gasoline and took the cargo to Venezuela?
- If it is true, then when did you learn about it?
- Are you aware that the United States has imposed sanctions not only on Venezuela but on any countries that help Venezuela evade those sanctions?
- Is it true that the Chairman of Paria Fuel  is the husband of the Speaker in Trinidad & Tobago? (FYI, that company would have been the one to have provided the gasoline, the subject of this question).
- Did you go out to tender for the two million dollar security contract to three security companies which contract was rescinded after it was announced?
- Did the cancellation of those contracts cost T&T any money?
- Would you kindly explain the thinking behind the awarding of those contracts in the first place and tell us why you felt or believed that it was not appropriate to use the army?
- Is it true that the contracts were only cancelled because of the public furore that arose after they were announced? Or was there another reason for the cancellation? If there was another reason, then what exactly was the reason?

And for the Minister of Finance:
- Have you been dipping or have you dipped into the Heritage and Stabilization Fund? And if so, exactly how much have you taken out?
- Please note that the question is 'have you dipped...'. If you have dipped into the Fund, when did you do so?
- If you have dipped into the Fund how much have you replaced? If you have replaced anything at all, where did you get the replacement monies from?
-Have you put any monies borrowed from anywhere into the Fund? If so, how much, when and where exactly did these funds come from?
- If you did put monies into the Fund, where and how did you get these monies?
- People have been complaining that the financial relief promised to the population has been either very slow in coming or non-existent. How much has been paid out since the announcement? And if it is very little, the why?

There are many other questions, but it would be really, really nice if we could at least be trusted to get answers. It would be even nicer if the answers came down showing that we have absolutely no reason not to trust the Government and that in truth and in fact they are really doing the job which we elected them to do.




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