The 2022 budget debate in the House of Representatives ended on Saturday, one day after it began on Friday, after no Opposition MP rose to speak after the contribution of Minister in the Education Ministry Lisa Morris-Julian.
After no Opposition MP signalled an intention to speak, Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George asked the Opposiiton MPs in the Parliament Chamber if they had any other speakers in the debate. Imbert, who was in the Chamber, was allowed to conclude the debate after no other UNC MP came forward to speak.
He declared, "The presentations by the other side have collapsed and there is a very good reason for that. There is nothing in this 2022 budget that they can get their teeth into." Government MPs thumped their desks as Imbert said the budget was "one of the most transformational budgets presented in this Parliament."
He added the budget provided a blueprint for the way forward for TT. Reiterating all of the fiscal measures contained in the budget, Imbert said none of the UNC MPs who spoke in the debate (starting with Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar) had anything substantial to say about the budget and could not offer any argument against its measures.
"There is nothing that I have heard from the other side that really warrants a response." He cited Chaguanas East MP Vandana Mohit's comment about someone who "walked out of the wheelchair" as an example. Referring to removing duties and taxes on devices for visually and hearing-impaired people, Imbert said, "That is the only comment I heard about physically-impaired people." He added that Mohit's comment has become infamous on social media.
[caption id="attachment_918096" align="alignnone" width="1024"] St Augustine MP Khadija Ameen was the last Opposition member to speak in the 2022 budget debate on Saturday.- Photo by Jeff Mayers[/caption]
Imbert said the proposed divestment of 10,869,565 ordinary shares in First Citizens Bank (FCB) "will be preserved for ordinary people in TT. He added, "Not the bigshots but for ordinary people in TT as we did with the last divestment of FCB. Not like them where wealthy people were able to pick up 5,000 and 6,000 shares under very dubious circumstances...ending up being fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Their people, people that they put on the board of FCB."
Imbert reiterated, "In their very weak contributions to this debate, they (UNC) could not challenge any of the measures in the budget. That is why their contributions have collapsed."
He said Persad-Bissessar's contribution was "a feeble attempt at bussing mark which is simple to the modus operandi of members opposite when they have nothing to say."
Imbert said the 11 UNC MPs' contributions were incoherent. "They can't even speak English properly. I wanted to quote Standing Order 8(1) which is the language of this Parliament is English on many occasions."
The House's Standing Finance Committee will sit from October 11 to 15, in keeping with the House's Standing Orders that it sit for no more than five days to deliber
