GIVING UP?

 There is a palpable sense that many Trinidadians and Tobagonians have given up on their country. Those who can afford it are voting right now with their feet and leaving. Those who can't leave for one reason or another ranging from no money  to no visa and everything in between, are throwing up their hands in despair. 'Please somebody, just fix it' they beg. 

The problem really is that nobody who is in charge has any idea of how to fix whatever it is that they are in charge of ranging from the out of control crime situation to the health care system and onto the education system, not to mention the million and one other things that need fixing in between. 

Some people, like Phillip Alexander who quite blatantly says that he wants to be Prime Minister, focus on the "little things" (and yes, the inverted commas are deliberate) and either point out with observable delight how bad things are or they provide "solutions" which may or may not work, or they do both.

What is crystal clear is that the centre is certainly falling apart. There is an old saying that if you have a problem you should lead, follow or get out of the way. The present leaders in the Government are (or seem to be) ignoring this advice and falling into that other old truism that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

Every government's policies and survival depend upon support from key pillars such as the business community, business elites, political elites, the media, security firms, cultural and religious institutions, athletes, civil servants and the like.

It is impossible to predict where and when these loyalties will begin to shift. People living under dictatorships often hide their views of the government until they see sufficient safety in numbers to publicly resist. This is basically what happened in 1986 when the country voted overwhelmingly against the African based PNM in favour of what they hoped could put an end to the country's racially divisive politics. The problem then was that the victorious NAR had over-promised and the cost of fixing things was greater than what people had expected.

It's clear that the country needs fixing - and badly. What is not at all clear is whether or not the electorate is prepared to pay the price of fixing the country. But, if we don't pay the price now it will just be that much harder for all of us down the road. Haiti has already shown that there is no "bottom" for a failed state. 

A LAND OF RUMOURS

 All the signs are there pointing to a snap early election. Certainly, the Opposition is smacking its licks at the prospect, but is this a good thing for T&T? Why do a lot of people think that there will be an early election?

Starting with the second question first, the biggest hint is the fact that the budget is being held early - a month before it is due in fact. The argument is that calling a snap election for, say, December, would give the Government  a chance to proclaim a "sweetheart" budget with lots and lots of "goodies" so people will be distracted by how bad things really are.

The second hint is in the statements of the Prime Minister, where, for example, as was announced in today's papers, he is being reported as announcing a gratuitous payment to health care workers for their work during the Covid pandemic. The Prime Minister is obviously speaking to his base and is hoping to "bribe" it with some "goodies" so that during an election campaign he can say 'look at what we have done for you'.

The third hint is that the Prime Minister is scheduled to leave the country on the same afternoon after the budget speech is read to go to Switzerland (of all places)! Ostensibly the purpose of the visit to Switzerland has to do with oil and gas and the PM will be meeting some bigwigs there from those industries which have investments in the country. Some unkind souls have suggested quite openly that his visit to Switzerland has more to do with his personal business than with the country's. After all, they argue, to get to Switzerland from T&T one has to go through London and the people that he is supposedly meeting are based in London. So why go to Switzerland? Certainly, that is a good question that ought to be answered. Failure to answer gives rise to all sorts of rumours and unprintable speculations some or all of which might be true.

On the other hand, things really aren't very good in T&T right now. The roads are full of potholes, the crime rate is soaring and a lot of people simply don't have their jobs anymore. It certainly is not the best time to call an election. But if Rowley and Co. (who have access to information that the rest of us don't have) believe that things are going to get worse rather than better, now would be a good time to go to the polls. Crime is getting worse by the day and Dr. Rowley's acting Commissioner of Police is increasingly appearing to be an incompetent buffoon. And, assuming that Dr. Rowley was right to say that Gary Griffith was just about the worst decision that he ever made, one can't help but wonder how he feels about Mr. Jacob? At least under Mr. Griffith the statistics suggest that crime was falling!

Then there is the question of Dr. Rowley's health - which is shrouded in mystery. Another rumour is that he is planning to step down as prime minister and 'step up' to the Presidency (a la ANR Robinson) when the term of the current President expires. That would, of course, mean no early election.

There are too many rumours going around with not enough information being shared by the powers that be in order for anybody to make a guess. Any one or all of the rumours might be true as well as they might all be false. What is vital is that we listen carefully to each one, discard those that are obviously untrue (e.g. Dr. Rowley is a Martian) and store away the rest for future retrieval. Some rumours are based on things that somebody who ought to know has told somebody else and therefore are based on facts. But which ones are fact based and which are not is almost impossible to tell at this time.

But, we can look at straws in the wind. And the current straws floating around do suggest that something is going on behind the scenes. What that "something" is, is of course, another story altogether. Would an early election be good for the country? Hard to say at this time.

 What a pity that the media in this country is incompetent! If they were not, a lot of these questions would be answered. But then (as Sparrow once sang) 'we like it so'.

'YOU'LL DIE OF OLD AGE, WE'LL DIE OF CLIMATE CHANGE'

 I got the title for this post from a photograph in a news article online of a young climate activist carrying a placard. It got me to thinking: she was right! Most of the readers of this blog are well over thirty and most of us here in Trinidad pay minimal lip service to the matter of climate change. In fact, a lot of us tend to think that we can't do very much, if anything at all, that might affect the climate so there is no real urgency on any of us to do anything that might help to lessen our climate footprint. Our collective attitude is that this is the responsibility of the big polluters, the United States, China et al, and there isn't a heck of a lot that we as individuals can do.

You've only got to look at that statement to see how wrong it is. Climate change is everybody's business and whatever little contribution that we as individuals can make is important. Of course, this doesn't mean letting our own big polluters or the Government off the hook. It just means that we all have to bear some responsibility.

My children are now all grown (my youngest is 20) but I do have a few grandchildren whose future, thanks to climate change, is definitely not clear. We have to do something. Perhaps we can start with a drive for conservation in the schools and let the ideas of the young people percolate slowly through the society. Perhaps we can do things like making people separate their garbage so that waste food goes in one bin and plastics in another and so forth. I certainly don't have the answers, but I do think that we all need to be more aware.

On a recent trip to Montreal I noticed that at almost every corner downtown there was a garbage bin so that you could safely dispose of your litter (waste food paper, plastic bottles, etc.). Perhaps we can do something like that.

The climate is definitely changing. We've all seen and heard on the television news the devastating heatwaves in North America and Europe. And back down here in Trinidad we seem to be getting more rain than usual which is resulting in more flooding. Of course, the entity best placed to help make people more aware is the Government. Unfortunately, whatever efforts they are trying to make just ain't cutting it. Look, I don't want to criticize the Government, certainly not on this issue. But the problem is bigger than politics; it goes to our very survival on the planet. And in any case, as I've said before: there is only one reason for politics - only one reason for government; TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE PEOPLE! Full Stop! There is no other reason.

Of course, we can squander whatever time there is left and worry about other things like who 'horn' who and who t'ief more. And we can kick the proverbial can down the proverbial road and let our children and grandchildren deal with the problem that we are creating for them.

WAS HE "HORNED"?

 Poor Dr. Rowley, the man can't get a break. With the country collapsing all around him and monies running out, his credibility is now in complete shreds. Of course, it can be argued that he brought all this down on himself. He has signally failed to face the country and give a frank account of where exactly we are financially as a nation and things that he used to criticize the former UNC Government for are now coming back to bite him in his "nether regions". For example, we still haven't had a proper explanation of why those four divers were allowed to drown back in February and we still haven't seen any prosecutions, much less suspensions, of anybody associated with children's homes following the Judith Jones report on abuses in those homes. (The answer from some of his surrogates seems to be that because the UNC did nothing about the Robert Sabga report he doesn't have to deal with the Jones report. But, wait a minute, didn't he criticize Mrs. Persad-Bissessar for basically not fixing things that ought to be fixed?) 

Then he gets Covid for a THIRD time! While this is obviously possible, I haven't heard of anybody having Covid more than twice and nobody that I have spoken to has heard of that as well! With his luck he'll probably catch it a few more times! But it says something about his lack of credibility when so many believe that this is not true that he has got Covid three times!

Then  before he gets Covid again, he gets sick in the United States and doesn't come home for three weeks while allegedly getting 'tested'. The rumour mill went wild with all sorts of speculations ranging from he was simply taking a holiday or was more ill than has been let on, to being arrested by the US authorities for bank accounts with millions of dollars unaccounted for and everything in between. Of course, he didn't help his case by refusing to release any of his medical details. Not releasing details of one's medical condition is , of course, the right of every person, but there is a strong argument against that when the affected person is a Prime Minister or a President. One can only imagine what he might have said if Mrs. Persad-Bissessar was missing in action for three weeks and absolutely no information was forthcoming other than she was "doing medical tests"! He would probably have at the very least made some pretty scathing remarks!

Then, as a final blow to his manhood and personal self esteem, the country is awash with an unsubstantiated rumour concerning his wife and her fidelity. It is unsurprising, to say the least, that his political opponents have seized on this rumour to mock him: "the horner man get a horn" is the refrain. (Translation: in the Trinidadian dialect a person gets a 'horn' when his/her boyfriend/husband/wife/girlfriend cheats on him/her with another).

One of the worst things that can happen to a politician is that he is ridiculed; that the ridiculing can backfire and create sympathy for him is a given, but is usually unlikely when people believe that whatever he is being ridiculed about is probably true. Hypocrisy is a big "no-no" in politics and in this particular case, too many people believe (as opposed to know) that Dr. Rowley has been unfaithful to his wife on multiple occasions and therefore deserves to wear the horns of a cuckold; and in politics, perception is reality. In other words, the perception is that he got well and truly horned. Perhaps now that he is on the receiving end of the type of rumours and allegations swirling around him he might consider it wise just to keep quiet and say nothing, and now knowing how it feels may just stop his own unsubstantiated attacks. On the other hand, his history suggests that he won't. We will all see what happens in the fulness of time.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A POLITICIAN AND A LEADER? -AN EMANCIPATION DAY MESSAGE

 Think about the question carefully. The best definition I heard was from a preacher that I saw on the internet (and whose name I cannot remember) who said that the difference was that a politician only thinks about the next election while a leader thinks about the next generation! So? How many of our political leaders really think about the next generation? Forget whether you support the UNC or the PNM. Do you believe that either Dr. Rowley or Mrs. Persad- Bissessar, for example really care about the next generation? Why do you think that?

Let's take Mrs. Persad-Bissessar first. What  evidence do YOU have that she cares? What has she said or done, for example, about those children who are still being abused in State run facilities? And I know that she is not in power, but she doesn't talk about it, or at least not every day. So? where is the evidence that she cares more bout the future of the next generation than the next election?

Now let's take Dr. Rowley. He IS in power and therefore can do something about it. The Judith Jones report was submitted in December LAST year. But all that has happened is that several committees have been established and everyone (including the Cabinet of the country) is waiting for the reports. In the meantime, nobody has been fired or even suspended while the "investigations" are going on and one gets the most uncomfortable feeling that abuses against the children are still going on. But nobody really seems to care! So? Where is the evidence that Dr. Rowley really cares about the next generation more than he cares about winning the next election? Why hasn't he at the very least caused certain people to have been suspended since he got the Judith Jones report? 

Look: there is only one reason for government - only one reason for politics : TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR THE PEOPLE!! Full stop! There is no other reason. And the reason for government is certainly not to make life better for the politicians! But that thinking is what seems to prevail in this country. Certainly, if you are in  a high office in Government the perquisites are fantastic. Its no wonder that all sorts of people are attracted to politics. But the vast majority of them seem to display more an attachment to themselves and their bank accounts than to the people whom they are meant to serve.

Emancipation Day was originally intended to honour those African slaves that had suffered terribly under the simply awful bondage of slavery. But perhaps the time has come to add a new meaning to this historic day (without, of course, forgetting or minimizing the original intention) which is to emancipate ourselves from selfish politicians. Maybe that is our way forward.