Trinidad and Tobago now has a deficit equal to the amount of money in the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, and borrowing will continue well into this year’s financial year, Congress of the People Deputy Political Leader, Robert Mayers, says.

’Trinidad and Tobago is in a crisis because the money done and now the Government want to introduce a property tax to meet its debt commitments,’ Mayers said at a COP public meeting at Frisco Junction, Point Fortin, on Tuesday night.

He said the Congress of the People will oppose the property tax because the Government did not save when there were huge revenues coming from gas and oil. He said in ten months, Government will be borrowing $10 billion.

Mayers said the squandering in the country is ’enough for people to get vex and outraged’.

But he asked, ’Where is the outrage against Calder Hart and Prime Minister Patrick Manning over the squandering?’

He said because of the failure of the country to do something about it, ’we will have failed ourselves and generations to come’.

He said, ’The country should get dam vex and demand that our voices be heard. We need to get vex.’

On the state of the political climate in the country over the years, Mayers said, ’Both the PNM and the UNC have divided the spoils to suit their own agenda, but what we have to do is to confront the race issue head on. Trinidad and Tobago is too small to be divided.’

Deputy political leader Prakash Ramadhar said the party was in a mood to join with other patriots

’We will join with every single patriot to save the country,’ Ramadhar said.

He told his audience that when the COP gets into power, ’One of the first things we would do is to establish a roving commission to audit all State entities’.