Who is popular today?

THE EDITOR: Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS)'s 2024 wish list is that our Government:
1. Repeals the nefarious amendments to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act (2020), which endorses inflated spending and kickbacks without any independent third-party oversight.
2. Appoints an independent senator with a background in the environment.
3. Recognises the shortcomings of bureaucrats managing state enterprises and adopts a private sector co-management model for all state agencies.
4. Addresses and stops the daily, unencumbered burning of plastic and other toxic wastes inside and near to major landfills such as the Beetham/Sea Lots.
5. Passes the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) legislation to command transparency and accountability in the extractor sector. Although we have signed the Dragon gas deal, there is no legislation to command contract transparency, so we the true owners are unaware and locked out. We need the PM to understand he was elected by the people. Our oil and gas are not his private possessions and are not his private business.
6. Closes our borders, which continue to be wide open for every type of contraband. Until and unless we invest in a functional radar system, our under-resourced Coast Guard will continue to allow every type of weaponry into our nation.
7. Passes the decades-old Beverages Containers Bill (with a suggested 20 cents refundable fee per container) to spawn hundreds of container recycling businesses employing tens of thousands of landfill scavengers, while creating value out of waste and creating tax incentives and subsidised loans for waste-recycling facilities/businesses.
8. Signs and ratifies the United Nations ESCAZU Agreement which promotes democracy, transparency and access to information
9. Clinically reviews WASA’s expenditure and invests in the Green Fund to finance river water collection/retention facilities to stop the burdensome annual $500 million desalination leakage in this collapsing economy.

GARY ABOUD

corporate secretary

FFO
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