In Brief
- Mayors and chairmen of People’s National Movement (PNM)-controlled municipal corporations say the 2027 National Budget discriminates against them.
- Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Alleyne said the city’s development allocation fell from $4.1 million to $2.6 million, a cut of almost 87 per cent.
- He said the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, held by the United National Congress (UNC), received an increase of almost 120 per cent.
- Diego Martin Mayor Akeliah Glasglow-Warner questioned the criteria used to determine allocations.
By Alicia Chamely
Mayors and chairmen of municipal corporations controlled by the People’s National Movement (PNM) are alleging victimisation following the presentation of the 2027 National Budget, citing severe cuts in allocations for development programmes and recurrent expenditure.
On Tuesday, the day after Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo presented the Budget, they held a press conference at City Hall, Port of Spain, to address what they described as a disparity between allocations to PNM-held municipalities and those controlled by the United National Congress (UNC).
Present were Port of Spain City Corporation (POSCC) Mayor Chinua Alleyne; Diego Martin Borough Corporation (DMBC) Mayor Akeliah Glasglow-Warner; San Fernando City Corporation Mayor Robert Parris; Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Chairman Josiah Austin; San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation Chairman [NAME]; Arima Borough Corporation Mayor Balliram Maharaj; and Point Fortin Borough Corporation Mayor Clyde James.
Alleyne said the allocations are split into two categories: recurrent expenditure and development.
“Sadly, we’ve received the budget that was presented yesterday, and we see that the victimisation and the discrimination against the burgesses that live in communities not controlled by the UNC, that victimisation and that discrimination continues in this budget, and it is even worse,” he said.
He said the POSCC was allocated TT$4.1 million for development in 2026, which presented severe challenges in carrying out necessary works. For 2027, he said, the allocation is TT$2.6 million, which he described as a cut of almost 87 per cent.
“It means that for yet another year, the City of Port of Spain does not have enough allocation to do any developmental works. We have no money to pave any roads. We have no money to fix any drains, and we have no money to pay the contractors that we currently owe,” he said.
“We have no funding available to pay any of those contractors because the government simply refuses to give to the people of Port of Spain an equitable share of the national pie,” he added, noting that this left the POSCC open to litigation from contractors.
Comparing the POSCC with the UNC-held Chaguanas Borough Corporation, which is due to be elevated to city status, Alleyne said: “Their budget has increased by almost 120 per cent. It means that the budget in this financial year for the Chaguanas Borough Corporation is almost 15 times more than the budget given to the City of Port of Spain for this year. Our budget makes up only 1.2 per cent of the overall budget for development programmes across all 14 corporations. The capital city has received only 1.2 per cent of the overall budget.”
He said there had also been a reduction in the allocation for recurrent expenditure, which covers salaries and services.
Alleyne also rejected claims by the UNC that UNC-held corporations were treated unfairly under the PNM.
“There’s been a claim that the PNM treated other corporations unfairly, and that claim is simply not true. If you take a look at all of the figures for the last 10 PNM budgets, as I have, you will see very clearly that there was balance in the allocations that were given to all corporations. No corporation ever had to face a situation where they only had 1.2 per cent of the budget allocated to them. In fact, across all those 10 budgets, almost exactly 50 per cent of the allocation given to UNC corporations was given to PNM corporations,” he said.
Glasglow-Warner said: “I want to get straight to the point and make something absolutely clear: the UNC is not simply waging a war against PNM-controlled corporations; they are waging a war against the people of Trinidad and Tobago, who happen to live in PNM-run corporations.
“When the UNC cut funding to these corporations, they are not punishing the PNM. They are depriving the people of the services and development they rightfully deserve. They are affecting families who depend on properly maintained public spaces, community facilities and infrastructure. When development funding is cut, the consequences do not discriminate according to political affiliation.”
Questioning the reasoning behind the differences in allocations, she said: “The disparities raise serious questions. How do you explain a situation where some PNM-controlled corporations are facing reductions of more than 80 per cent while some UNC-controlled corporations are receiving increases of more than 100 per cent over the same period? How can the UNC justify that? What criteria were used? Were these allocations determined by population, infrastructure needs, drainage requirements and road conditions?”
She said the DMBC is larger than the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, yet Diego Martin received a substantially smaller allocation.
Appealing to the government, Alleyne said: “All of these mayors and chairmen are gathered here today to say definitively to the government of Trinidad and Tobago that enough is enough. It is time to stop this nonsense. It is time to ensure that you represent all of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, not only the people that live in the communities that voted for you, because there are people that live in Port of Spain who voted for you as well. You are discriminating against them too. You have been elected to office not to serve the party. You have been elected to office to serve the country.”
