Dear Editor: Faris should do what he’s paid to do—not indulge in PR gimmicks

“[…] Does it feel good to see a minister doing the hard work? Yes of course, but he is not paid to do that.

“While this task is very necessary, he is paid to get it done—not do it himself. His time, which costs the taxpayers lots of money by the hour, is to be used to create proper policies inside of Local Government, not become a bush wacker…”

The following Letter to the Editor on footage of Minister of Local Government Faris Al-Rawi doing manual labour was submitted to Wired868 by former UNC candidate and senator Marsha Walker:

Faris’ latest PR trick is another example of PNM encouraging ignorance over proper political education. Does it feel good to see a minister doing the hard work?  Yes of course, but he is not paid to do that.

While this task is very necessary, he is paid to get it done—not do it himself. His time, which costs the taxpayers lots of money by the hour, is to be used to create proper policies inside of Local Government, not become a bush wacker.

He should therefore be taking his time to understand the challenges inside his Ministry. He should be using his brain power to understand where the bottlenecks lie.  

Why is there unnecessary red tape slowing down the efficiency of his Ministry? How can he ensure goods and services are delivered effectively? He should be meeting with the Minister of Finance to figure out why four backhoes in DMRC are not working.

Please citizens, don’t fall for political gimmicks. It is time we as a people are truly empowered.  Proper understanding of the government’s structure will ensure men who are paid $45,000/month aren’t doing the job of someone who needs the $2,000/month.

And to the propaganda spreaders. No, Kamla walking through flood waters is not the same thing.  

In times of emergency, we most certainly expect our MPs to be out there lending a hand—but this was not an emergency. Faris had more than enough time to plan for someone to cut the bush.

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